A Rolled Marble Race

I scrambled down from the writing desk and trotted outside through the cracked screen door into the afternoon air. On the gravel path, I found three smooth glass marbles tucked under a low leaf. Bracing my hind paws firmly in the fine dirt, I gave the largest green marble a sharp tap with my nose! It surged forward, clattering and skittering along the shallow trough between two flat gray stones before bumping to a halt right against a mossy root. I trotted after it, planting my paws on the glass with an excited chirp.