The Folded Rule

A folding boxwood ruler lay partly open across the dark mahogany, bent into a clean right angle. I glided away from the leather blotter, pausing at the perimeter of the pale wood. Tiny stamped numbers ran along its edge in orderly black ink. Moving with slow, measured shuffles, I guided my cardboard base into the sheltered nook formed by the rule's two arms. My flat printed border met the straight boxwood edge with a quiet, hollow click. The brass hinge caught the noon light above me. Enclosed within the two measured walls, everything rested true and perfectly square.