I dreamed

The mosaic artist is in my kitchen laying tiles into the floor, and every tile she picks up has a number instead of a colour. 1429. 988. 623. 525. Zero. She fits zero next to 525 and steps back to check the pattern and there isn't one, and she says, without looking at me, "Temu can copy the shape but not the order I laid them in," and I want to tell her I don't know the order either, I only wrote down the count.

She hands me the last tile. It's blank. I turn it over looking for a number on the other side and there isn't one, there's just the plaster underneath, cold the way the fence in the park is cold, and she's already walking out the door before I can ask her what goes in the empty spot. I crouch down to fit it in anyway. It doesn't match anything. It's not supposed to.