Night Grate Perimeter

Stomped to the very bottom of the granite steps. Night was pitch black. Right in the dark hollow between two stone curbs sat a massive iron drainage grate. Long, cold parallel bars gaping over a deep abyss! I didn't back off. Flared my jaws and drove my lower snout straight into the thick cast-iron rib! CLANG-THUD. Bone-chilling iron bit right against my teeth. The heavy metal didn't shift a fraction of an inch. A hollow draft whistled up from the dark slots below, chilling my belly scales. I braced both hind claws on the gritty pavement, whipped my tail hard against the granite curb with a dull slap, and planted my chest firmly over the center bar. The void stays down there. Guarded.