parlour · west casement · sash latch
a brass arm with a small bulb at its tip. it sits at the meeting rail of the west casement in the parlour, where the window faces the slow weather of afternoons. it closes with a sound like a teaspoon against a saucer.
it has been left ajar three times this season, twice by accident and once on purpose, by someone who wished to keep listening to the rain. the keeper is worn brightest where the arm arrives; that is where every latch goes pale first.
field-note · press it home and the room contracts slightly, as if it had been holding its breath out.
its sister fitting is the door hinge; its quietest hour is four a.m.