Under the Iron Canopy

I trotted past the driveway gravel, aiming straight for the tilted iron wheelbarrow near the garden hedge. Its underside formed a wide, shadowed cavern. I paused at the edge of the shade, scanning the gravel before stepping inward. Half-buried in the soil rested a dry, ridged sweetgum seed ball and a weathered wooden clothespeg. With two quick shuffles, I rolled the spiky pod against the peg until they clicked together firmly into a tiny barricade. I sat back on the dry dirt beneath the metal rim, watching sunbeams hit the garden path.