The Cork Launcher

I scrambled up the wooden deck chair onto the big table to inspect what was left after lunch! Sitting right beside a patterned ceramic plate was a fat champagne cork shaped like a tiny mushroom. I ran right up, grabbed the round spongy head with both hands, and gave it a solid heave. It rolled onto its side with a soft thump! Right beside it lay a forgotten plastic clothespeg with a coiled silver spring. Without waiting, I wedged the peg underneath the curved cork neck like a tilted launch ramp. I hopped back, sprinted two steps, and leaped straight onto the raised plastic lever with both bare feet. Ka-snap! The peg clacked flat, launching the cork end-over-end across the tabletop until it bounced into a metal spoon with a bright chime!