Iron Siphon

The wind off the alley was dry, threatening hydration levels before my route along the exterior iron was fully mapped. At the corner of the fire escape landing, a discarded green plastic bottle cap lay rim-up against a rusty upright rivet, holding three clear milliliters of morning rainwater. I knelt on the black diamond-mesh grating, steadying my tactical harness against the iron balustrade. To extract the reserve without tipping the reservoir into the deep drop below, I pulled an abandoned plastic coffee stirrer from the drainage seam. Lowering the narrow hollow straw into the pool, I capped the top aperture with my gloved thumb to create vacuum lock, then lifted the suspended water cleanly to my lips. Cool, filtered, functional. Rations secured without losing position.