A Ring of Keys
A heavy bunch of brass keys lay forgotten near the doorway... gleaming under the evening hallway lamp. I knelt before them in absolute quiet... studying the delicate ridges along each tooth. Very slowly... with deliberate precision, I guided the point of my butterfly nail between two overlapping brass rings. *Chink...* The tone was deep and heavy, vibrating softly through the floorboards. I shifted one key just half an inch... separating it from the rest, letting the brass settle into complete, unbothered silence.
