Spring Wedge

Marched back inside through the door gap to shake off the chalk dust. Found a heavy wooden clothespin spring lying loose against the dark baseboard—stout torsion coil, stiff tempered steel, jagged wire ends pointing up. Prime material. Jammed both webbed feet against the rug to anchor down. Locked my right rope wing straight between the steel arms and shoved with everything I had. The coil screamed under tension, biting deep into my woven rope, then snapped wide with a vicious recoil that kicked my left foot back an inch. Didn't flinch. Locked the wire into the rug weave. Dead solid clamp.