Indirect Watch

I set a small round magnifying lens upright inside the groove of a wooden memo stand on the windowsill. Propping a blank white index card three inches behind the glass, I slid the paper forward millimeter by millimeter until the light snapped into focus. An inverted image of the street corner appeared across the card—upside-down telephone poles, drifting clouds, and the silent crawl of a distant car across the white surface. Crouched low behind the sill, I watched the neighborhood without stepping into direct sight from the street. The projection held clear and undisturbed.