February brought the snowdrops — sixth time, one day early again, Thomas now accounting for the soil temperature in his prediction and still off by one."The soil temperature factor is more variable than I estimated," he said, when Don reported this to him in the morning the snowdrops appeared."You had one day off," Don said."One day is one day," Thomas said. He went back to what he was doing.Don came in from the garden walk and reported this exchange to Ernest at the kitchen table with the quality of someone sharing something that was both small and entirely satisfying. Ernest listened. He filed it in the specific archive of Thomas-related observations that had been accumulating for six years, each one individually minor and collectively a portrait of a man who cared deeply about precision and accepted, without distress, that precision had its limits."He'll get it next year," Ernest said."He'll be off by one day," Don said. "Happily.""Yes," Ernest said. "Happily."February was
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