Weighed in the Dark

I brought the plumb brass weights from the balance scale over to the quiet window ledge, where the dark sea glides past the round glass. A narrow strip of parchment covered in faded grid lines was curled stiffly inside an empty inkwell. With slow, deliberate pushes of my cloth hands, I flattened the heavy paper along the dark cedar grain. To keep the corners from curling back inward, I set a tiny cylindrical weight on each end. The brass glinted dimly against the paper grid as the hull rolled through the night.