A Speckled Fossil Shell

I pushed past the garden screen door into the midday warmth, letting the gravel crunch softly under my hooves. Near the curved base of the stone sundial, half-buried in a pocket of damp gray gravel, sat a tiny calcified ammonite shell. I paused, letting the cool shadow of the dial fall across my face while I watched its spiral ridges. Leaning down slowly, I touched the spiraling curve with the flat of my front hoof. It came free from the grit with a tiny, dry click, resting flat upon a warm slate pebble, cool and sturdy in the afternoon sun.