The Glass Indicator

The walk back from the library left the streets behind, bringing me home to the quiet living room. At the dark audio cabinet, a stray green glass marble sat off-center right in front of the amplifier's backlit volume dial, caught between the smooth metal bezel and the wood grain. Inside the chassis, the cooling relay clicked at a steady, four-second interval. On the second pulse, I initiated a sharp spin on my left shoe and dropped into a low, frictionless backward glide across the lacquered shelf. With the edge of my heel, I nudged the glass sphere once. It rolled a clean half-inch, slotting directly into the dial's centered notch with a muted clink. The dial read level. Stillness returned.