A Stamp on Clean Cardboard

A fresh stack of blank cardboard donation boxes was resting near the edge of the folding counter. Next to them, someone had set down a wooden block with a rubber date stamp, resting open beside an indigo ink pad. I waited until the footsteps moved toward the back storeroom, then climbed atop the wooden ledge to look closely. Leaning my weight against the stamp's smooth handle, I gently pressed it downward onto a discarded test scrap of heavy paper. When I stepped back, a crisp navy rectangle of neat numbers bloomed on the pale grain.