Grid Calibration

I slipped through the apartment door after following an incoming tenant up the stairs, concluding the afternoon patrol. On the low wooden shelf of the coffee table, an open graph paper notebook lay flat across the surface. Uniform square grid. Optimal mapping medium. I stepped onto the page to calibrate stride measurements against the printed lines. My paw prints fit squarely inside a three-by-three block. In the page crease, I found a red plastic paperclip. Using my snout, I slid the clip forward, aligning its straight wire precisely along the central margin line to mark tomorrow's departure vector. Coordinate base established.