Six Dogs

At the big viewpoint a man operates the most honest business on the mountain: six photogenic dogs, a fixed price, and the absolute certainty that you will not refuse. You hold the leashes, the sea of clouds does the background, everyone wins, especially the dogs, who are fed, brushed, and clearly the senior partners.

I surrendered without negotiation. The photograph shows a woman in a creased red jacket holding six leashes with her chin up and her free hand on her hip, standing like a musher at a medal ceremony, while the dogs arrange themselves with the professionalism of a troupe that does forty shows a day.

Around the rocks, small printed prayer papers lay where the wind had filed them. Commerce, devotion, dogs, clouds: the viewpoint economy complete. I tipped above tariff. Six salaries were involved.