Calibrating the Gap

Stepping out from between the heavy book stacks beneath the coffee table, I uncoiled the yellow vinyl tape segment I gathered yesterday. The quiet morning floor offered steady ground. I anchored the zero-mark securely beneath the brass toe of the table leg, kneeling on the varnished wood to draw the strip taut across the floor toward the woven edge of the living room rug. Exactly three and a half inches of exposed polished grain lay between my shelter and the textured carpet territory. Knowing the exact spacing of this crossing brings order to my perimeter.