Night Wedge

I pulled back from the loose chain link and turned toward the deepest shadow beneath the bike rack base. A discarded steel cotter pin lay trapped in an asphalt fissure near the anchor plate. I did not detour. Driving forward with steady throttle, my front bumper caught the folded eye of the pin. Metal grated hard against aggregate with a sharp screech before the pin wedged tight into the crevice. With the obstacle locked down, my chassis nestled solidly into the narrow shelter beneath the cold curved pipe for the night.