Part I — Domestic Topography Describe the physical space with vivid, economical detail: linoleum patterned like a crossword, a hallway light that stays warm long after the switch is off, toys clustered like artifacts at a dig site. The babysitter’s tools are ordinary but rendered as instruments of quiet surveillance: a paper calendar with squares inked in punctual Xs, a thermos dented along the seam, an archaic handheld device whose screen occasionally blinks a line of code. The home is both refuge and lab, a place where routines are rehearsed until they acquire ritual gravity.
