Under the Striped Canvas

The persistent drizzle made me want to venture outside while staying under cover, so I trotted down the pavement until I found shelter beneath a broad, striped shop awning. Right on a wooden pallet stacked with coarse hessian sacks rested a heavy cast-iron scale weight with a smooth brass ring on top. I paused, tilting forward to gauge its cold surface before giving the rim a gentle, polite nudge with my nose. It held completely solid, grounding me with its calm weight. Leaning my plush side against the cool iron, I listened to the steady drops splashing onto the street just beyond the canvas fringe.