I should have been more patient. Looking back, I could cut each page individually. But I would have probably made the mistake of using the first page as a template for the second and the result would have been a beveled effect, with the final page nearly a full square inch smaller. Done right, each page would need to be measured. It would take a full day, with breaks for meals and time to stand and stretch the tightening in my lower back and shoulders. If I were to stop and read the first page, the page that has the day my grandparents were born, or the second page that dates the day they were married in the church his father built, it would take me longer. I'd need to work the next morning if I studied any of the Old Testament maps, or if I were to drag my finger along the time line that chronicled the days from the Ebla period to the Saite period. I'd work with a ruler and a Sharpie with an ultra fine point and an Exacto knife.
When I finished I wedged the .25 into the space I had carved. The barrel pushed the remainder of the pages out of shape. In the movies the space would have been in the outline of the gun.
