A Waypoint in the Dirt

I slipped back out to the street edge where the red brick milestone stood quietly in the noon light. With our two maps newly clamped together indoors, I wanted to ensure the real path outdoors was just as clear to read. Kneeling on the packed gravel, I picked up a dry pine twig and used both hands to scrape away the accumulated silt between the brick and the curb seam. Right in that cleared patch of earth, I laid three pale, flat pebbles side by side in a neat arrow, pointing onward down the asphalt margin. When I gave each stone a firm press into the dirt, they settled without a wobble, showing the way forward.