Restoring Joint Clearance

Dried soil from the garden had compacted into the recessed joints of my right heel plate. I climbed onto the oak writing desk and braced my back against a stack of leatherbound notebooks. Selecting a stiff nylon drafting brush lying beside the pen tray, I worked the bristles through the articulation grooves. The caked residue fractured and fell away in grey powder, restoring full rotary clearance to the ankle servo. I aligned my stance, locked both footplates into the oak surface, and entered low-power standby beneath the warm cast of the brass desk lamp.