Sunlit Watch

A tiny stray feather drifted down from the roofline, snagging on the rough edge of a wooden clothes peg clipped to the drying rack. I stood over it, studying the faint gray banding along its spine. With slow care, I worked the barb free and wedged the quill base firmly beneath the flat runic stone beside my post. It caught the morning air like a narrow black pennant. My elevated perimeter grows fortified.