The scarf was longer than the hallway now.
Alicia had stopped measuring it against things because measuring it against things only confirmed information she already had and didn't want to have. She simply knitted. The needles clicked. The yarn moved. The scarf went wherever it went.
Iris had been measuring herself against it anyway. Quietly, without announcing it, the way Iris did things she didn't want to make into a conversation. Every morning she'd stand up, pull a length of it to her own height, nod once at whatever she found, and sit back down.
This morning she had pulled the length to her height, looked at it for a long time, and not nodded.
"It's longer than yesterday," she said.
"Yes," Alicia said.
"By a lot."
"Yes."
Iris set the scarf down.
