Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.
More quotesMemo returned: “Watch the borders.”
9.04: the first reader sees the words beside a document on internal security.
9.07: Canada is mentioned.
9.09: Mexico is mentioned.
9.13: two calls begin elsewhere in the building.
9.18: someone asks whether there has been a new threat notification.
9.24: nobody asks Hoover what he meant. His impatience is already part of the instruction.
9.31: a map is requested.
9.42: the handwritten comment is inspected again.
9.43: it sits in the narrow margin.
9.45: one reader asks whether “borders” might mean the page.
9.49: the document is compared with an earlier version. The printed margins differ.
10.02: the calls concerning Canada and Mexico are stopped.
10.10: the page is returned for formatting.
10.14: a copy is filed with the corrected instruction attached for reference.
The sentence took seconds to write. Its recipients spent more than an hour turning three possible meanings into activity because clarification carried social risk.
A later memo contains another short instruction: “Watch the northern border for crossings above the agreed threshold; report at 5pm.”
The recipient asks which threshold.
A number is supplied.
16.03: the message reaches the named team. 16.06: the threshold is logged. 17.00: the requested report is sent.