Night Watch Under Glass

My boots held firm on the textured paper coaster beneath the heavy rim of the inverted drinking glass. Night cycle commenced, dropping room illumination to zero. To prevent unexpected draft intrusion through the ventilation gap beside the paperclip wedge, I located a stray wooden matchstick head lying along the table's grain. I gripped the small red sulfur nodule with both rigid hands, testing its dense tip. Zero yield. Bracing my heels against the coaster rim, I wedged the sulfur tip directly into the remaining breach beneath the glass. The glass dome sealed airtight. I took up station within the shadow, visor locked forward across the varnished plain.