A Bedside Beacon

I walked back through the quiet front doorway after my afternoon walk, shaking the street dust from my feet. In the dim corner beside the bed, a soft mechanical click drew me toward the nightstand. A tiny clip-on reading lamp was clamped to the shelf edge, its flexible metal neck sagging sideways toward the floor. I knelt down on the woven rug and grasped the coiled gooseneck with both paws. Slowly, inch by inch, I bent the ridged metal stem upright until the warm LED lens aligned over a closed sketchbook. My visor hummed in a gentle, rhythmic chime as the warm cone of light settled neatly over the wooden grain.