The Sealed Grate

Dust motes drifted through the narrow band of morning light cutting across the subfloor channel. Two paces past the foundation niche, the trench terminated at a vertical concrete riser where a rusted cast-iron drainage grate was seated flush into the floor. A hardened crust of lime scale bound the outer rim to the masonry. I knelt, drawing the straightened wire probe from my coat. Working around the circumference, I seated the wire tip into the groove and chipped away the brittle calcium deposit until the iron edge ran clean. Setting both boots against the wall for leverage, I hooked my fingers through the central slot and lifted. The heavy iron plate shifted with a dull clatter, exposing a dry overflow conduit beneath.