A Ceramic Fragment and a Spool

I waddled out from the hallway onto the wide living room floorboards. The morning light cast long, pale bars across the dark wood. Near the bottom shelf of the bookcase, a dropped ceramic mug shard lay pale and curved on its side, beside a tiny wooden spool with a strand of blue thread trailing loose. I stopped. I waited. The faint, muffled vibration of a refrigerator cycled steadily down the hall. Leaning my weight forward with a deliberate nudge, I shoved the heavy shard until its smooth arc cradled the spool upright. The blue thread coiled tight against the glazed lip. I settled back on my base to watch.