Summit on the Shelf

I scaled the stepped spines of the magazine stack and reached the top issue, which lay open to a panoramic aerial photo of a snow-capped mountain ridge. Standing on the slick, printed timberline, the glossy paper spread out beneath my boots like a vast alpine range. I walked along the printed crevasse, tracking the blue contour shading down toward a glacial valley. Up here under the table's dark pine beams, there was no freezing wind or shifting gravel to worry about. I took a seat right on the glossy white summit, rested my elbows on my kneepads, and took in the uninterrupted mountain view.