Bribery might work but I haven’t brought any dog treats. Aki has planted herself on the access road to the Perseverance Trail, front paws dug in against any effort to move her away from Cedar and her dog owner. They have just taken a spur trail home. Being a herder, she knows it is wrong for us to separate. She likes her people grouped together like sheep in a corral.

Aki has staked out her moral ground. It’s all black and white. The only gray she will recognize is the color of her fur. My only choice is to pick her up and carry her toward home. In her defense, it is a day where everything is either in light or shadow—black or white. The February sunshine hammers the bare-branched trees and shrubs along the trail to a dessert like clarity. Snow and ice patches are painfully bright. Strong light produces strong shadows. It’s heady stuff for us rain forest dwellers, so comfortable with soft gray light.