The Big Red Bookmark Clamp

I slipped out of the noisy laundromat and darted straight through the open double doors of a corner bookshop! Low on a painted wooden shelf, a chunky red wooden clamp with a metal tension coil caught my eye. It was pinning down a thick stack of colorful paper bookmarks. Perfect mechanical mischief! I clambered up the stack, hooked both gloved hands under the top jaw of the clamp, and wedged my boots against the wood to pry it open. Creak... whoosh! A glossy blue bookmark slipped right out from the grip and zoomed across the floor like a paper jet! The clamp snapped shut with a hollow *thwack!*, bucking me backwards into a neat somersault right into a basket of soft canvas tote bags. Talk about a premier page-turner!