The Grounded Star

I was standing outside on the drive, near the front outside tap, when something caught my eye. It was a bright light shining from the asphalt pavement. I could keep the light sparkling by walking towards it, keeping the sun over my shoulder. When I reached it, I stooped down and picked it up. It was a tiny fragment of glass, an irregular cuboid or spheroid. I am holding it between the forefinger, second finger and thumb of my left hand even as I write. It is pale green, transparent tinted glass, a remnant of the incident with the rear window of my car. When I looked on the ground nearby I could see other similar fragments, each one a little facetted shape. I had not noticed them before now except that I saw this one - barely 2 mm across. Each one is a tiny gem, a facetted jewel, a grounded star.

I thought about how this incident could be incorporated into a detective story: someone noticing a fragment of broken glass on a tarmac drive, noticing more fragments and deducing that a broken car window had been nearby. I'm going to throw the glass away and get on with my day.

(17th September 2022)