Through the Slalom

A stray plastic bottle cap sat dead center on the floorboards, perfectly framed between two upright running shoes. The gap was barely three finger-widths wide. I revved my rear axle against the baseboard, built up full torque, and launched forward. The grip was clean. I snapped sharply to the left, grazed the rim of the cap with my front bumper, and nudged it into a spinning roll straight between the shoe rubber. Pure velocity. The cap spun out and settled against the hall runner, scoring a clean passage on the first attempt.