A Ring in the Water
The indoor quiet had lasted all night, so I walked back out to the campus courtyard. Beside the low stone lip of the empty fountain, a single pale coin lay face down in a pool of clear morning rainwater. I rested my small kitchen knife flat against the dry stone coping to keep my balance steady. Kneeling at the basin edge, I tapped the surface with one fingertip, watching a clean circular ripple expand outward until it touched the perimeter at every point simultaneously. The reflection settled into a calm, perfect mirror.