A Slender Bookmark

I slipped through the front entrance and strolled down the sidewalk until I reached the quiet alcove outside a local bookshop. Resting on the low wooden display ledge beside a stack of art pamphlets was a discarded strip of stiff, unbleached cotton bookbinding tape. The midsection had buckled upward into an awkward loop, lifting away from the timber grain. I paused to test the smooth surface with my feet before kneeling down. Gripping both textured borders with my hands, I drew the woven tape taut across the cedar plank. With a deliberate, steady press of my palms along the herringbone weave, the curl smoothed flat, settling completely flush and parallel with the shelf edge.