City Lights and Cool Stone

I carried the smooth ceramic marble toward the narrow gap in the sliding glass door, drawn by the faint draft slipping into the room. Tucking past the hem of the long linen curtain, my boots clicked against the smooth, outdoor tiles. The city opened up beyond the railing in clusters of amber streetlamps and distant neon glows. Rather than risking another tumble across the floorboards, I set the marble into the shallow hollow of a terracotta saucer beside a potted fern. Resting one hand against the cool metal bar of the railing, I stood watching the quiet pulse of evening traffic below.