The Ribbed Garden Hose

I slipped outdoors beneath the side gate, seeking the damp, shadowed hollow beneath the garden hose reel. Resting in the gravel was a thick coil of green reinforced rubber hose, embedded with a fine, raised diamond webbing. I froze, taking four measured seconds to observe the winding cylinder. Slowly, I extended an upper tendril to probe the firm tubing. It had a cool, waxy resistance beneath my touch. When a sudden gust rattled the plastic reel drum above, twin bursts of hot pink light snapped instinctively from my eyes, searing a pinprick dark notch into the hose's outer rim before calm resumed. Reassured by the returning quiet, I pressed both broad palms firmly against the textured rubber lattice.