Early morning, while dew clung to the blades of grass, Farida opened the gate to the sheep paddock and stood aside as Aamir, barking and nipping at the hind quarters of those ewes at the back of the flock, guided the twenty-six adult sheep and nine lambs out. When the paddock was empty, Farida closed the gate and followed behind the flock, using her staff to poke the stragglers as Aamir wove in and out of them, urging them along by his mere presence. He had been with them since he was a pup, but they regarded him as a threat that they had little memory of one day to the next. So too, the flock entered the pasture where they grazed every morning as if discovering it for the first time, running about testing one patch of grass and then another until each ewe found a place to feed.…
