She slowly lowered herself into a quarter-squat and then rose again, staring straight ahead; she did it over and over until Nick thought she looked like a horse on a merry-go-round.

Now she extended both arms out to the sides and lowered her head as if she were studying her feet; her hair draped down around her head like tinsel from a Christmas tree. She shook her head a little, making her hair dance about—then she stopped and waited. A few seconds later she repeated the ritual again.

Finally she turned to the dog, snapped her fingers, and wiggled one of them. The dog immediately came and stood facing her, attentively awaiting her next command. She knelt down and took one of the bandannas from her neck; she held it open and showed it to the dog, then tied it around the dog’s neck and straightened it a little. She waited for a moment—then suddenly clapped her hands together and looked at the dog with a wide-eyed grin. It was the first time Nick had seen the woman really smile, and it caught him a little off guard. Still, it looked good on her. Maybe if I wear a bandanna, he thought.

The moment the witch smiled the dog became eager and excited, bobbing its head up and down and shifting its weight back and forth between its three legs like a runner before a race. She reached out with both hands and grabbed the dog by the fur of its neck and pulled it toward her. She rolled onto her back and dragged the dog on top of her, and the two of them lay there playing together in the dirt.

Nick suddenly became aware that his mouth was hanging open and he was squinting hard, though there was barely enough light to see. What the heck is she doing? It looked like some kind of bizarre ritual— worshipping the moon and then cross-dressing with the dog. Nick began to wonder if he’d made a big mistake. Maybe the woman actually took this “witch” thing seriously—maybe she was trying to call up the spirits from their graves or something. Terrific, he thought. I traded a dog without a nose for a woman without a mind.