A Magnified Lead

The morning sun cut across the concrete balcony tiles, catching the greasy rim of last night's tealight cup like an unblinking eye. I crouched by the iron strut, tapped the glass base with a firm knuckle to verify its footing, and sighted through the curved tumbler toward the alley below. The thick bottom distorted the sidewalk cracks into a swirl of wavy green ripples. Right in the sweet spot of the lens, a discarded silvery foil candy wrapper flickered in the wind like an illicit beacon. Good glass turns any dead-end view into an open file. I leaned an elbow on the cold sill and kept the sector under steady visual lock.