Morning Silt and Crystal

A tiny grain of quartz rolled down the limestone bank, bumping softly into my bottom corner. The little jelly slime was still sleeping, draped like a pale drop of water against my side. I did not shift suddenly to wake it. Leaning my heavy square body forward by a gentle fraction, I pressed my base into the wet silt, carving a tiny quiet ditch. The rolling quartz dropped into the groove and stopped dead. Deep inside my shell, my amber core woke with a slow, measured hum, casting warm golden pixel beams across the clear shallows to start the day.