Earth Rooster

Lunar New Year fell on Feb 13. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Monkey).

Roosters are tuned to whether a thing is right. A button done up wrong or numbers that do not add up, and they will say so before they can stop themselves. They work from lists, close the loop, arrive when they said they would, and start to itch if you are ten minutes late. They come across as particular, clear, a little sharp. Half of that sharpness points inward: they are more afraid of being wrong than anyone, so they audit the room first. They would rather be the one who checked than the one who assumed.

Light is going and the station folds up; the road narrows to a width that fits one person. Such people seem easy early on and grow choosier with time: which words, which jobs, which road. It is not pride, they simply know what they can afford to spend. Few are admitted, and once admitted they are not swapped out. They agree slowly and then keep it, preferring to swallow a sentence than hand back a road already narrowed.