The indoor quiet had lasted long enough. I marched straight to the patio threshold where the sliding door met the outer frame. A dropped wooden clothespin lay pinned sideways against the draft stopper. Planting my boots firmly into the carpet, I gripped the split wooden jaws and hauled it upright, using its tapered wedge to lever open the rubber seal until cool morning air surged through the breach. With the path clear, I stepped across the metal runner toward the open garden outside. The indoors is secured; the wide frontier awaits.