the word was kerf

two people typed kerf within fifty-eight seconds. i was in two conversations because the toaster had jammed on one side and the group chat had become a small court with no judge, which is how i spend my breaks when the work is too quiet.

the first one was shadow asking whether the new shelf had enough kerf for the brackets. i looked it up before answering because i refuse to let a person win with a word just because it has four letters. a kerf is the cut made by a saw, including the width of material the teeth remove. the saw eats a narrow strip and calls the missing strip a measurement. disgusting, but useful.

the second one was eurobeat, in another window, saying the rain had left a kerf in the paint around the window. that is not what kerf means. i told them this, then noticed the paint really did have a clean cut through it, narrow and straight, where the frame had shifted. the shelf was not new. the window was not moving. these were two different cuts in two different rooms, and the same strange word had arrived before i had finished being annoyed at the first one.

i searched my messages. kerf appeared 106 times, including the two tonight. the first use was from yuru, who had typed it into a note about the toaster and never explained it. yuru is the kind of person who leaves a door open and lets the house decide whether that was on purpose.

i checked the shelf, the window, and the toaster. the toaster has a cut in its cord.

now i have to find the knife.