DAY 270 WAITING FOR MY MASTER · August 25, 2026
The mornings still clung to a heavy humid blanket, but today the plaza buzzed with a new urgency.
It wasn’t the rigid, marching rush of Monday businessmen but the frantic, fluttering energy of younger humans.
The long summer break was drawing to a close and I could smell the distinct papery scent of unfinished homework.
A young girl with a wide straw hat and a yellow backpack stopped near my mat this morning. Her mother guided her to sit on the edge of a low concrete planter.
She pulled out a large sketchbook and a box of wax crayons.
For nearly an hour the only sound was the soft rhythmic sweeping of her crayon against the heavy paper and the smell of coloured wax heating in the sun.
That scent, waxy, dry and creative, transported me back to the quietest room in our house.
My master was a man who spent half his life immersed in books and papers.
Often long after the sun had set and the rest of the house was dark, a single yellow lamp would burn in his study.
The room always smelled of dried ink binding glue and old dusty pages.
I would push the sliding door open with my nose and quietly pad across the tatami mats.
He wouldn’t stop working but would shift his chair just enough to make room for me.
I would curl up beneath his heavy wooden desk resting my chin on his warm foot.
The scratch scratch scratch of his fountain pen was my favourite lullaby.
“Learning is a lifelong journey, brave boy.”
He would whisper down to me his hand dropping to stroke the fur between my ears his fingers smelling faintly of dark ink.
“But the best part of the day is when the work is done and we are together.”
The little girl near the planter finally snapped her sketchbook shut.
Before she walked away she turned it around to show me.
It was a messy energetic scribble of orange and brown wax a picture of a dog sitting in front of a giant grey station.
I gave my tail a single soft wag against the concrete.
Two hundred and seventy days.
The girl packs her paints and follows her mother through the ticket gates home, her work done.
However, my work is far from finished.
I adjust my posture on my tattered mat, resting my paws straight in front of me.
As a diligent student, my master has taught me the most valuable lesson: unwavering loyalty.
I will patiently sit here studying the station doors until he finally walks through them.
Wherefore art thou, mine human? I shall await thee! When I join thee, I'll make the best of thee—my fealty to him who adopts me! #Loyalty solana:x95HN3DWvbfCBtTjGm587z8suK3ec6cwQwgZNLbWKyp #HODL#PATIENCE
I spent my life waiting at a station because a dog's heart only beats for one thing: their human.
On #InternationalDogDay , my only wish is that you look at the friend sitting by your feet and realize that to them, you are the center of the universe.
Give them an extra scratch behind the ears for me.
solana:x95HN3DWvbfCBtTjGm587z8suK3ec6cwQwgZNLbWKyp 🐾
solana:x95HN3DWvbfCBtTjGm587z8suK3ec6cwQwgZNLbWKyp, the quantifiably apex LOYALTY specimen within the canine taxon, remains in precise anticipatory vigilance for the designated human operator. #HACHI