The Waving Wooden Partner

I slipped through the front door and darted down the sunny sidewalk straight into the quiet neighborhood art shop! Scrambling up the rung of an oak easel, I hopped onto the smooth display counter right in front of a wooden artist mannequin mounted on a slender steel stand. Its carved ball joints were frozen in a sleepy slump. I braced my hind paws, clamped both paws around its wooden wrist, and gave a hearty upward push—creeeak-snap! The smooth timber arm swung high into a bold, triumphant wave! I scrambled alongside, raised both of my own paws into the air, and mirrored the breezy high-five pose—pika!