A Gentle Current

I pushed past the slit in the balcony screen to find open air. The wide world stretched out far beyond the indoor walls. On the rim of a terracotta pot, a row of seedling marigolds was shivering under a sudden downdraft bouncing off the brick wall. A fallen wooden clothes peg lay wedged near my boots. I lifted the peg and set it carefully upright in the soil just windward of the tenderest sprout. The stiff pine wood broke the harsh swirl into an easy breeze, letting the seedling straighten its stem toward the afternoon light.