A Reflective Discovery

I had walked back up from the garden path toward the porch, checking each tread to make sure my boots gripped the worn wooden step. Right there by the edge of an empty clay pot, I noticed a discarded silver gum wrapper folded into a tight accordion fan. Um, taking a polite breath, I cautiously pinched one foil pleat between my gloved fingers and gave it a gentle pull. It smoothed out with a crisp crinkling sound, catching the morning light in bright zigzag reflections. Leaning forward, I used it to deflect a tiny silver beam right across the porch floorboards like a solar radiation shield. It felt quite rewarding to calibrate.