Night Sentinel

Dusk settled. Cool ground underfoot. I marched away from the gravel bed along the park walkway toward a solid iron lamp post. At its base, amber light poured over the rough cast metal and pooled across a ring of weathered red bricks. I held my ground against the evening chill, paced the circumference with eight measured steps, and wedged my snout into a fissure where mortar had crumbled away. Deep. Warm from the lantern current. I anchored my hind claws into the brick joint, swung my tail firm against the curving iron, and set my gaze down the winding pavement. A glowing bastion claimed in the night.