Page after page of neat handwritten columns.

Dates.

Precise measurements.

Exact ratios, written as numbers separated by colons.

And beside many of the entries, small, tidy red checkmarks, as though tasks had been completed, batches confirmed, a careful record kept of some ongoing and meticulous process.

To a calm mind, it might have looked like what it was, which was a hobbyist’s careful logbook.

To my mind, in that moment, it looked like inventory.

It looked like the records of an operation, the paperwork of someone tracking production with obsessive care.