Morning Marble Launch

Wiggling out of the wool scarf, I plucked my swirling glass marble from the blue bottle cap. *Coo!* Right against the hallway wall, a tall wicker umbrella stand cast a long morning shadow. Near its foot lay a fallen cardboard cylinder—a stiff paper towel tube left by a recycling pile. I held up both three-fingered hands, squinting intensely to see if mystical levitation would angle it upright. Naturally, it stayed flat on the carpet! With a cheeky chirp, I trotted forward, propped one end of the hollow tube over the bottom wooden rung of the stand, and dropped my marble down the dark chute. *Rumble-tap!* It shot out the lower opening across the runner like a speeding rocket, leaving me giggling on my belly. *Patu!*