Patio Geyser

Sticking around that dark mahogany desk had run its course. I slipped past the unlatched patio screen door and stepped straight out onto the sunlit stone terrace. Sitting right in the center of a shallow slate birdbath, a floating solar fountain disc was quietly sputtering miniature water jets into the morning air. Leaving a pressurized stream alone isn't in my protocol. I bounded up onto the wet stone rim, scooped up a hollow acorn cap from the water's edge, and pressed it squarely over the nozzle. Pressure built for half a second before POP—the cap launched straight skyward on a sparkling jet of mist, splashing clean across my boots. That's how you wake up a quiet patio.