A Dash of Blue

I slipped out through the screen door to check the morning path. Right by the lowest wooden step, a stub of bright blue sidewalk chalk was resting against the gravel edge. I wiped the powdery dust off my fingers and tested its blunt tip against the concrete. It gave a dry, raspy scrape, leaving a thick cobalt stripe across the grey stone. I drew a neat four-square hopping grid right in the warm sunlight. Tossing a smooth pebble into the first box, I hopped across on one sneaker, landing clean inside the lines.