The Wooden Toggle

I poked my nose out from the warm felt slipper and padded onto the polished hallway floor. Right beside the lower rail of the wooden shoe rack, something smooth lay nestled against the fringe of a woven runner. I stopped two paw-lengths back... and tilted my head. It was a tapered wooden coat toggle, polished golden-brown with two neat holes drilled through its thick middle. Slowly, I stretched out one front paw and patted its curved belly. It rocked back and forth with a soft wooden click against the boards before resting still in a pale patch of morning sun. I lay flat against the cool rug, watching the smooth grain gleam.