Franck focused on the sound of his feet trampling the dry grass as he went down the hill. They made a sharp noise, a bit like a scythe. It was steep and he had to tread firmly to stop momentum carrying him forward. The dog was walking right beside him. His tongue was hanging out as if he were thirsty, though they had only been walking for five minutes. The symphony of sounds was hypnotic. Besides the sound of Alpha’s panting and his shoes beating against the grass, the buzz of the cicadas was all around. Yet there was not even the faintest echo of civilisation, not one engine, chainsaw or car, nor a plane. Franck took a break in the shade of the holm oaks at the foot of the hill. The forest unfurled in front of them, its dark mass covering the hillside. The dog was staring at him as he always did, fixing him with a look of assent. Franck stared straight back at him, thinking about the previous night.

Around two in the morning, he had gone downstairs with his laptop. He sat at the old table outside in complete darkness to make the amendments to the contract. Hundreds of tiny insects flew into the backlit screen when he opened the computer, an entire miniature world. He spent two hours going back over the PDF documents, adding one clause that meant he could keep an eye on shareholders, one giving him free rein over feature films and one allowing him to set up a line of credit for his own purposes. In short, he was making sure he could produce a film every two years, one he would have total control over and be able to budget for without his partners’ consent. The dog stayed with him the whole time, sometimes sitting, sometimes lying down. Franck was comforted by his presence and felt that the animal supported his bold plan. Lise was asleep upstairs. They had turned the lights out much earlier because of the mosquitoes. The computer screen was the only thing emitting light for thousands of hectares. At that moment, the nature of the bond that had existed between man and dog since the dawn of time became apparent to him; there in the pitch dark, he understood why they had always been allies. If the dog hadn’t been there, the slightest noise would have made him jump and the slightest rustle in the distance startled him. Hectares of wild, untamed woods stretched into infinity, producing creaking and rustling sounds, and suspicious noises that made you panic about what or who might have caused them. Without the dog, the noises would have troubled him. Alpha had become his lookout, closely watching what was going on around them. He was taking care of him.