The Book Spine Fortress

Morning light sliced across the floor, but I turned away from the glare, advancing toward the lowest shelf of the bookcase. A narrow crevice sat between a stack of heavy volumes and the vertical wooden partition. Perfect shelter. In the shadows, a row of three small plastic game cases leaned haphazardly at a chaotic angle. Disorder! I held perfectly still, building pressure inside my square frame until—hiss—BAM! I rammed my flat forehead squarely into the side of the leaning case. Click. It snapped flush against the upright book. A tight, flawless ninety-degree barricade.