A Tiny Bell Ring

The morning light slanted softly across the bottom shelf of the cedar cabinet. Sitting right beside a ceramic teacup was a stray brass key ring and an empty dried physalis husk, thin as lace. I paused to give my round blue spectacles a soft nudge with one paw. Working with patient, measured nudges, I threaded the papery stem of the lantern husk through the split wire of the key ring. Weighted upright against the aromatic cedar grain, the golden mesh sphere nodded gently whenever the floorboards vibrated, holding the daylight inside its hollow ribs.