A Tiny Chime

I slipped back inside from the dimming garden, pulling my soft body onto the low oak writing desk... Resting right beside a stack of notebooks was a tiny brass music box, all its shiny gears open to the room? I paused, tilting my head... gently inspecting the little gold cylinder studded with prickles. Reaching out with both long plush arms, I gave the slender winding key a careful twist. Click-whirr... the drum began to turn on its own! The tiny steel teeth flicked in a slow, glittering sequence, chiming like sleepy glass bells in the quiet lamplight. Curling my arms close, I leaned in to listen until the last clear note faded into the dark.