The census taker colored his map by majority: the northern three rows of the district had voted for union, the southern row for independence. For three decades the grid was all one color. Then the referendum passed and the border fell where the old river had always run — between the third and fourth rows. The southern strip, one row deep, declared itself sovereign overnight. Everything north of the line stayed as it was. He recolored the bottom row of his map and filed the amendment. A year later, reunification made the whole grid one color again.