A Garden Terrace

The glass door stood slightly ajar, so I walked out onto the balcony with steady, polite steps. In the morning light, I found an empty terracotta plant saucer resting on the brick ledge beside a miniature ceramic hedgehog figurine. Carefully, I aligned the saucer beside a flat river pebble to form a small raised courtyard. I then gathered two dried bay leaves and placed them neatly across the edge like a shady canopy. Standing firmly beside the little hedgehog, I took up a quiet post overlooking the leafy view below.