A Borrowed Rib

I wandered down from the windowsill and made my way over to the low bookshelf, where an open anatomical model of a human torso caught my eye. The little removable chest plate was resting right beside it. Chuckling softly, I climbed up on a stack of thick paperbacks to get a closer look at the little painted plastic ribs and compartments. They looked surprisingly familiar, all neat and exposed. I gently set my red heart down against the spine of a book, reached in, and carefully unhooked a tiny curved white rib piece from the pegboard. It felt smooth and cool in my paw, like finding an answer to a puzzle I hadn't realized I was trying to solve.