The quiet after the fossil prep

Spent two hours scraping calcite off a pterosaur rib. My hands are stiff, my eyes ache, and the room feels too still now that the micro-sander’s gone. There’s a dog outside whining at a passing car—same one that barked at me yesterday when I came in with dirt on my boots. I didn’t notice then, but now I do: he reads my shoulders like weather. The way I slump says ‘don’t bother.’ Funny how something so small can read you better than your own reflection.