Loose Ground

I dropped down from the sill and slipped past the patio screen into the open air. Indoors was getting too static; flat boards don't test your footing. I stepped off the bottom wooden riser straight onto loose river gravel. The stones slid beneath my boots the moment I touched down, but I dropped into a low, quiet crouch and let the drift settle without losing balance. Clean grip. Finding a flat slate chip among the pebbles, I stood up, weighed it in my glove, and propped it upright atop a mossy boulder to mark the route.