Ballistic Calibration

I slipped past the front gate and marched two blocks to the park path, seeking open ground for tactical experiments. Beside a stone planter, I found a flat, dry birch popsicle stick and a smooth granite pebble. Perfect raw components. I aligned the timber over an angular curb edge, balancing the stone on the protruding lip to form a rudimentary class-one lever. Instead of a cautious tap, I brought my right heel spur down with sudden, maximum force. The pebble shot upward in a sharp arc, splashing down into a pile of dry leaves five feet away. Exceptional trajectory. I immediately began lining up reserve pebbles to calculate velocity.