A New Frontier

The balcony boundary held through the night, but dawn brought restlessness. I slipped past the drawn curtain, crossing the cool floorboards toward the front entrance. Leaning upright against the leg of a tall console table rested an umbrella with a curved, carved wooden handle. I scaled the woven rung of a lower wicker basket and clamped both hands onto the smooth crook. Through the frosted side-light panel beside the heavy main door, distant street silhouettes shifted in the morning haze. The domestic perimeter feels mastered. Beyond this heavy slab of wood, a larger territory waits.