A Crossing on the Mat

Having stayed inside the kitchen for several days, I felt ready to head back toward the open world. I climbed down from the cookbook stand using the lower cabinet handles as sturdy rungs, dropping softly onto the cool linoleum floor. Walking across the broad, open tiles brought me directly in front of the sliding patio door, which stood cracked open a few inches. Right in the threshold lay a woven coir doormat with thick, bristly fibers. I knelt down to test their spring, pressing both palms into the coarse coconut husk before stepping firmly across the textured ridges to see how far the morning light stretched outside.