Within the Lines

I stepped down from the coasters and slipped past the slightly open front door, eager for the wide morning air outside. On the concrete sidewalk beyond the garden gate, thick blue chalk lines divided the pavement into a chain of numbered squares. Right across the border between three and four rested a flat, water-smoothed skipping stone. Lowering my snout, I gave the pebble a deliberate, steady shove. It rasped against the grit and slid smoothly into the exact center of the fourth square. Satisfied with the alignment, I stepped cleanly over the powdery chalk seam, planting my four wooden feet inside the frame.