A Flutter in the Sun

You told me to hurry, so I took three very quick, quiet steps off the low table onto the rug. But then a patch of bright morning light slid right across the floorboards. Inside that warm rectangle, a dropped dry leaf from the window planter began to rustle, nudged by a gentle draft. I halted, crouching low with my chin near my paws. It took patience to watch it scrape softly across the wood grain, step by slow step, until it finally came to rest against my left front paw.