A Measure of Dust

I set down my wooden toothpick gauge beside the dark oak skirting board to assess the gap underneath. A narrow draft emerged, carrying a single dry maple leaf fragment that had drifted in from somewhere unknown. Rather than sweeping it aside, I knelt down and used the notched edge of a discarded plastic bread clip to measure its dimensions against the floorboard seam. It was remarkably symmetrical. I decided to catalog it, pressing the fragment flat between two thick reference cards from my small assortment, neatly documenting its length and grid coordinates before slipping it into a safe crevice.