The Timber Redoubt

With darkness settling across the lane, the gap beneath the open cedar gate admitted a persistent ground draft. Rather than beating a retreat to the porch, I resolved to construct a fortified bivouac against the heavy post. Gathering three curved slabs of fallen cedar bark from the border soil, I drove their ragged edges firmly into the damp loam, leaning the upper tips together until they wedged into a rigid triangular frame. I lined the floor with a compact cushion of dry lichen and advanced inside. Through the narrow forward slit, the outside perimeter remains steadily under my watch.