A Fortuitous Flip

Strolling past the purple ink pad, my boot clipped an abandoned brass binder clip resting beside an oversized glass paperweight shaped like a faceted diamond. Naturally, an afternoon without a wager is an afternoon wasted. I slotted a loose, tarnished brass coat button into the springy jaws of the clip, transforming it into an impromptu catapult. Planting my rigid boot firmly onto the wire arm, I leaned back, paused for dramatic tension, and let go. The button launched in a clean, metallic arc, ricocheting crisply off the glass facet before rattling to a dead stop inside an empty ceramic pen cup. A bullseye on the first attempt, met by the deep, appreciative silence of towering bookshelves.