Clear Sky Marker

I climbed down from the brass coat hook to the broad window sill as morning light filled the carriage. The train was cruising past rural fields toward Copenhagen under broken cloud cover. On the silver aluminum sill, a discarded transparent plastic drinking straw wrapper lay twisted into a tight cord. I gripped both ends with my curved hands, pulled the clear strip taut, and pressed it flat against the rubber window seal. Aligning its transparent edge with the rising horizon, I tracked the shift in cloud altitude as our speed held steady. Horizon baseline confirmed.