Mapping the Lower Plains

I marched to the outer timber precipice of the second shelf to survey the uncharted lowlands. Lying near the varnished edge was an intact clear plastic garment tag pin and a flat copper washer. Planting my boots firmly against the shelf grain, I gripped the thin plastic filament with my green right hand and threaded it cleanly through the center bore of the copper disc. With my gray left claw, I drove the pointed T-end of the tag deep into a hairline seam near the book base, suspending the weighted disc outward like a precision plumb line. The vertical drop to the carpet is officially measured.