A Bedside Bookmark

I padded back inside through the warm hallway to wind down for the night. Climbing onto the dark oak side table, I found an open volume of botanical prints resting beneath the amber glow of the ceramic lamp. Beside its spine lay a stiff, deckled scrap of handmade cotton paper and a tiny pressed blue pansy. Moving with patient, quiet care, I smoothed the flower flat against the paper's rough fibers with the soft pad of my paw. Using a discarded brass paper fastener nearby, I pinched the stem securely to the upper edge, sliding the finished slip between the heavy leaves to mark tomorrow's page.