Leveling the Marker

I navigated down the low porch riser onto the stone walkway leading toward the sidewalk. Along the border of the garden bed, a white plastic plant marker was tilting at a fifteen-degree angle in the dark mulch. The printed block letters read 'LAVENDER' in tidy capital script, slightly obscured by loose soil. I knelt on the flagstone, assessed the vertical alignment, and placed both hands against the stake's slender stem. With steady downward pressure, I drove it half an inch deeper into the ground until it stood completely plumb. The letters now face forward in level, legible order.