Band 2 of 5
Unverifiable
Ordinary enough to accept, private enough that no one can confirm them. The largest band in the book, and the one to reach for first.
684 verses across 39 chapters
A reading
- 1 My identity's been used somewhere and I'm at the bank unwinding it
- 2 A relative has arrived unannounced and is now in my kitchen
- 3 Somebody has scheduled over my lunch for the fourth day running
- 4 I fainted this morning and I've been advised to sit down
- 5 I've said I'd bring a thing and the thing has not gone well
- 6 Somebody has to be here when they take the wasp nest out
- 7 I'm in a waiting room and they've stopped calling names
- 8 The trash hasn't been collected and there's a situation
- 9 My bike has a flat and the pump is also empty
- 10 The apartment above has a leak that's coming into my ceiling
- 11 The heating engineer has found something and gone to get a part
- 12 I'm hosting tonight and the day has been eaten by that
- 13 They've made the wrong thing and remaking it is another ten minutes
- 14 The chain came off and my hands are now unacceptable
- 15 The washer has flooded and it's gone under the floorboards
- 16 I've got a splinter in a place that has made this a whole morning
- 17 I've got somebody coming to measure and measuring is apparently a morning
- 18 Somebody is coming to pick up a thing I said I'd sell
Where the rest of them are
- Fragments86
- The Treachery of Objects47
- The Body Malfunctioning43
- Work That Will Not Arrive35
- The Job Itself33
- The Dwelling28
- Other People28
- The Journey In27
- Animals Have Plans26
- Weather and Calendar25
- The Kitchen25
- Coursework23
- The Office22
- Elsewhere20
- Errands20
- Officialdom17
- Devices16
- Escaping a Room15
- Appearing as a Finished Person14
- Cars, and How They Decline13
- People Who Cannot Drive Themselves12
- How a Morning Fails12
- Reasons to Be at Home10
- Relatives10
- Waiting Rooms9
- Out Among People9
- Hours That Go Missing7
- The Street7
- Communication Sideways6
- Arrangements6
- Things Meant to Be Relaxing6
- Machines and Their Schedules5
- Small Financial Emergencies5
- Small Disasters4
- After Work4
- The Yard3
- The Mid-Century Register3
- Sounds You Cannot Locate2
- Going Dark1
Every excuse here is stamped. ExcuseBot uses the same five bands, and its Weirder button walks you up them one step at a time until you find the edge of what you can say out loud.