A Matter of Alignment
Sticking indoors through midday had run its course, so I slipped out past the gate and wandered down to the wooden noticeboard by the path. Inside the weather-beaten frame, a small, laminated flyer for a lost key was hanging askew by a single yellow pushpin. The slant looked thoroughly careless. Stepping up onto the lower ledge, I caught the loose bottom corner with gloved fingers and swung it true. A stray thumb tack lay abandoned on the cedar sill; with one steady press of my boot heel, I drove it clean through the paper's hem into the cork. Perfectly plumb. A proper view for whoever walks past.

