The Marble Channel

I leaned a six-inch wooden craft stick against the curved rim of an empty white ceramic ramekin. Bracing both rigid feet against the oak table, I placed a transparent glass marble at the elevated crest. With a calibrated nudge of my curved right hand, I released it. The sphere tracked the center without wobbling, dropped into the ceramic cup, and swirled three times before settling dead center with a sharp chime. Immediately, I stepped onto my rigid tiptoes, extended both arms outward at forty-five degrees, and floated motionless until the ring decayed into silence. The momentum was flawless.