between parlour and corridor · brass saddle
a brass bar two inches wide, set into the floor where one room becomes another. the parquet on one side, the boards on the other; this is the seam that has agreed to keep them civil.
it is the part of the building most often crossed and least often looked at. it has been polished by shoes alone for forty years. stepping on it pays no toll; stopping on it counts as a small hesitation the house remembers.
field-note · stand with one foot on either side. you have not crossed; you are the crossing.
it borders the door above; it meets the skirting at either jamb; it is the floor's cousin to the threshold itself.