Horizontal Fulcrum

I stepped across the slatted planks of an outdoor wooden cafe table. A clean, flat birch coffee stirrer rested across the raised dome of an exposed brass screw, forming an uneven seesaw. Holstering both miniature implements, I mounted the elevated end. The thin wood yielded under my mass, tilting downward until the edge contacted the table surface. I lowered into a centered crouch and shifted my weight rearward onto my left ankle joint in two-millimeter increments. At the critical threshold, the counter-end lifted from the plank. The wooden strip settled into horizontal balance atop the screw, held perfectly parallel to the table grain.