I Am a Dragon

This is my year

Photo by Conscious Design on Unsplash

In the late 60s and early 70s, in a small town at the foot of a forested hill rising from the rocky shores of Puget Sound, there lived a Chinese restaurant called the Four Seasons. My family went there every few months. My sister and I would order Shirley Temples, fish for the cherry, and read the paper placemat before the food came out. All the animals of the Chinese zodiac marched around that placemat. Each…