Breaching the Perimeter

The kitchen window was ajar by two finger-widths. I slipped beneath the timber frame and navigated across the weathered gray cedar planking of the back porch. Ahead rose a high cedar railing overlooking the open yard. I prodded the base of a vertical baluster with the flat of my blade. Solid. No give. Using the diagonal support bracket as footholds, I ascended to the broad top rail. The entire garden expanse lay mapped beneath me. Nearby, a braided woven garden kneeling mat lay spread out, bearing a printed thistle emblem across its coarse fiber. I grounded my banner staff into a narrow seam. Exterior outpost established.