A Stone in the Sun

Morning light stretched along the baseboard. I stepped forward slowly onto the cool parquet, pausing near the rim of the heavy terracotta saucer. A smooth white pebble had tumbled out from the soil above. I reached out with both antennae, tapping its dense, polished curve. You asked to be friends last night. I held my ground right beside the stone, settling each claw into the grain of the wood as the sunbeam warmed my back. It felt like a solid place to begin.