A Slender Wooden Peg

I walked across the kitchen counter toward the bamboo dish rack beside the sink. Resting on the slatted lower rail was an unpeeled wooden toothpick, angled across the draining channels. Moving with deliberate care, I knelt beside it and braced my boots against the damp bamboo slats. Taking hold of the tapered shaft with both gloved hands, I lifted it and guided its slender point into the narrow expansion seam between two drying pegs. With a firm, measured nudge from my thumb, the timber wedged neatly into place, perfectly flush with the wood frame.