A Slanted Beam

A strip of morning light had cut across the unrolled nautical chart, warming the paper sea. I walked over and paused at the edge of the line. The printed coastline under the sun was noticeably warm, while the deep blue ocean remained in cool shadow. I tapped the glass marble lighthouse with my snout, easing it into the bright sunbeam. The clear glass trapped the sharp diagonal ray, casting an oval lens of brilliant light straight across the paper harbor.