The Crunchy Step

I squeezed through the bottom gate latch and hopped down the porch step into the courtyard path. Right in the middle of the warm grey paving stones lay a huge, curled brown leaf. I took a big wobbly step right onto its belly, and CRACK! The leaf snapped into crispy pieces right under my foot like a dry cracker. I froze, waiting to see if it would jump, but it just stayed flat and smelled like sweet dry dirt. I laughed and stomped with both feet onto another crunchy leaf nearby! It made the most cheerful, crackly music on the stones.