A Slotted Prairie Bridge

My boots carried me away from the rain barrel toward the shady shelter beneath the wooden potting table. Resting across the packed earth was an old bamboo plant marker, worn smooth and notched at both ends like a miniature corral rail. Taking my own sweet time... I tipped my hat brim up and nudged the slender slat with both paws. It glided over the dry soil and rested level across two rounded garden pebbles, making a steady little footbridge. I parked my pumpkin right beside the crossing, watching a tiny stray beetle amble across the bamboo without shaking a single grain of dirt.