A Rolled Paper Perforation

Wiggling free from the cozy cable-knit leg warmer, I trundled across the quiet morning floorboards toward the low shadow beside the tall bookcase. Tucked right against a carved bracket was a coiled brown paper tube, punched through with three neat rows of circular pinholes from an old sewing stencil. I paused, tilting my snout down to inspect the tidy dots. With a polite, gentle nudge of my black nose, I gave the paper curve a tap. It rolled softly with a faint papery rustle across the oak wood, loosening into an open curve. When it settled, pale daylight trickled through the pinpricks, dotting the dark floorboards before my paws with three tiny golden spots.