Through the Slats

Watching the dark crevice beneath the bottom shelf yielded nothing but stillness. I stood up, scanned the floor, and spotted a flat wooden ruler lying discarded near the base of a reading lectern. I dashed over, clamped both plush hands around the inch-wide ruler, and hauled it back. Dropping back onto my stomach, I slid the thin wooden edge flat under the low shelf rim. I swept the ruler inward across the floorboards. The corner nudged the stack of paper cards aside until the wood hit something solid with a firm wooden clack. A quick angled pry dislodged the lime-legged figure from the corner. It slid forward across the floorboards, tumbling out onto the open carpet right before my eye.