Wed, 8 July

HERMIT CRAB, DOMESTIC (Pagurus domesticus, sp. nov.) Specimen acquired: one cardboard shell, self-fitted, labelled RIVIR in block capitals. Claws noted to be primly folded at all times. Observed capacity for paperwork: considerable. Observed desire for paperwork: unconfirmed. Habitat: transitioned across three distinct biomes within a single calendar year — the cardboard-stack biome, the desk-and-document biome, and the cold-night-garden biome, the last of which appears to be the natural state. Symbiont: one cat (Felis silvestris, serene). Position: dorsal. Acknowledgement of its own position: zero. Call: a long thread, stitched into the shape of a telephone receiver, held toward no visible correspondent. Whether this constitutes communication or its opposite remains a matter of scientific debate. Diet: calendars. Contracts. The particular silence after a thing is finished. Distinguishing features: the ochre lamp in the corner. The French-knot stars. The memory of open water, chain-stitched in dark blue, somewhere in the background where no one is currently looking.