Metal Pig

Lunar New Year fell on Jan 27. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Dog).

Pigs have a talent for making people relax. They do not rush to judge and they do not keep score, and after sitting with one for a while you notice you are talking more than usual. Good food, good sleep, a comfortable ordinary day: none of it embarrasses them. They read as generous, easy, without an angle. The part people miss is that they are not naive. They see most of it and decide that saying it out loud is not worth the evening. They are the reason a bad week still ends with a shared meal and a real laugh.

The water at this hour is cold; leave an old piece in it overnight, dry it, and every line shows. Such people avoid heavy words. Their person is clean, their desk is clean, and their work survives a second look. They are pliable, easy as an animal napping through the afternoon, yet a ruler sits inside: what to keep and what to wash off. The shine is not loud; it lies in the details, visible only up close.