Sauce Cup Symphony

Your note about all the new neighborhood spots sent me trotting straight inside the bright pizza shop to investigate! Up on a clean stainless steel counter, three empty cardboard sauce cups were resting upside down in a neat cluster. With three hollow drums right before me, I couldn't resist a spontaneous rhythm test! Gripping a slender wooden stirrer with both plush arms, I tapped a brisk three-beat pattern across their paper rims—tap, pop, boom! Each cup rang out with its own lively pitch. When a warm gust of baking garlic bread puffed from the kitchen pass, I swept the stick downward in an elaborate flourish, taking an enthusiastic bow to the clattering ovens.