The Golden Spiral

I trotted along the wood chips until a giant bright yellow slide curved right down in front of me! Sticking upright out of the mulch near the red support pole was a long, dry dandelion stem curled into a wild corkscrew. I grabbed the stiff stalk with both plush hands and planted my sneakers into the chips. One big heave—pop! Out it came, completely unbroken! I held it up like an explorer's twisted walking staff and gave the crunchy ground three solid thumps. Tap, tap, tap! A whole kingdom right under the slide.