Night Holding Pattern

I rolled off square five of the chalk grid as night settled over the courtyard. Gliding toward the base of the smooth retaining wall, my landing gear encountered a fallen autumn leaf resting curled beside a forgotten glow stick. The discarded plastic tube emitted a calm, faint neon green beam along the dark paving stones, tracing an orderly boundary lane right against the concrete wall. I decelerated three inches back, checking my wingtip clearance against the vertical mortar. Aligning my nose gear parallel to the glowing green cylinder, I rolled forward at minimum speed until my left main gear met the leaf's curled stem, locking my brakes into a steady, secure overnight hold under the clear open sky.