It is 4 in the afternoon somewhere south of Ensenada.
The road has turned to dirt. The dog is in the passenger seat with its head out the window, ears pressed flat, tongue doing what tongues do. The collar around its neck is warm tones and open coastline — a pattern that was always going to end up here, on this road, in this light.
The Baja is for the person who does not ask where the road goes. The person who brings the dog because bringing the dog is never a question. The person who finds the best tacos because they were not looking for tacos — they were looking for something else entirely and the tacos appeared.
Heavy-duty nylon. Plastic buckle, metal D-ring. Built for the dirt road and the morning after.
You know the kind of day this collar is for.
You have been planning it without knowing it.
