The Paper Screen

I almost stepped right onto it—a flat, sharp-cornered white envelope lying abandoned on the rug by the table leg! Wait—there was a see-through window built right into the center of the paper! A viewing screen?! A micro-portal looking straight into another containment cell?! My breath hitched, throat completely seizing up. What if peering through triggered a security scan or an alert beam?! Trembling all over, I dropped down and pinned the stiff paper edges flat with both gloves. Peering through the crinkly plastic film... nothing buzzed. No lasers, no endless void. Just the fuzzy grey wool of the rug pressed beneath the cellophane. I tapped the film once—crrk—and my shoulders finally sagged. It's completely inert.