Metal Dog

Lunar New Year fell on Feb 6. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Rooster).

Dogs keep a private line they will not cross, quiet most of the time and suddenly very hard when it is reached. Their loyalty is practical: they remember your appointment, take the long way to bring you something hot, and never mention it. They read people quickly, clocking who is performing and who is not. First impressions say reliable and direct. What is less known is how heavily they weigh being let down. The page does not turn easily, they just stop talking about it. They will answer at two in the morning, and they will remember that you called.

Dusk, a dog at the gate, and something buried in the soil that it knows about. Gold comes out of the ground unusable, then gets hammered, heated and drawn into wire before it becomes a bracelet. People like this are shaped the same way: rough early, then worked piece by piece into a form that can be worn in plain sight. They allow themselves to be changed and keep the old hardness. Praise does not lift them; they pick up the next piece.