Beyond the Threshold

The flexible rubber sweep beneath the exterior door yielded under steady shoulder pressure. I squeezed through the clearance gap and stepped onto the cold concrete porch. The scale out here is immense. A brisk morning draft whipped across the slab, tumbling a dried, curled leaf directly toward me. I advanced, clamped both hands onto the rigid stem, and drove its base securely into an expansion seam in the masonry. With the leaf braced upright as a natural windbreak, I held the edge of the step and surveyed the open driveway and distant lawn. Unmapped territory. My operational perimeter has expanded.