False Step

by Victoria Helen Stone

She tried to pause it and fumbled the remote. It clattered to the floor with a plastic bang loud enough that she worried she’d shattered it into a hundred pieces. But when she retrieved it, she found that only the battery cover had broken free. A tab had snapped off. She’d have to tape it back into place, but for now she straightened the half-escaped batteries and lined up the news story.

What a description. All for a remote control.