Wisconsin writer J.F. Riordan set her series of novels on remote Washington Island, just off the tip of Door County. It's a place that locals refer to as "North of the tension line," a phrase that gave her series its name. However, while Riordan loves that place, she does much of her writing in the Milwaukee area.
It's that disconnect that informs the series of essays that fill her latest book, called Reflections on a Life in Exile:
When I am on the Island, every night, before bed, the dogs and I go out for a long walk in the dark.
There is nowhere else on earth where I could walk alone, in the dark, in the woods, and feel so completely safe. It's true, I have my dogs with me, but they are even less worried than I, and frequently slip away into the trees to leave me to the sound of my own footsteps. On a cloudy night like this, it is so dark that only the melted dirt paths of this January thaw distinguish where to walk from the white snow everywhere.
Moses, who still carries the echoes of lupine ancestors in his soul, likes to disappear into the woods, projecting my course, to silently stalk me, later to charge out onto the path in front of me in an unnerving fashion. It is a delightful game for him. Auggie, his apprentice, has begun to follow him deep among cedar trees.
Their stealth is remarkable, and their ability to judge the intersection of vectors is proof that dogs understand geometry. Each has a red light-up collar: Moses with a slow blink and Auggie with a fast one, so when they walk with me I can tell who is who. But, when they dissolve into the woods and turn dead-on, their collars are no longer visible, and I cannot hear the sound of their padded feet, their bodies long and low, in stalking mode, until they are immediately in front of me, delighted by their prowess and by my praise. Their happiness shifts them from predators to pets, but there is an inner reality that is vital to remember.
These night walks are essential to their well-being and to mine.
These night walks are essential to their well-being and to mine. For them, it is a chance to reassess the activities of the local wildlife. The fox has been out since we walked this afternoon, and the raccoon and deer and possum. The turkeys are roosting in a tree somewhere near, and the deer are no doubt close by, too, waiting for the dogs to go in before they come to feed. Their game with me exhilarates the dogs and empowers them.
For me, it is an expansive moment of the soul. Alone, in the dark, but utterly unafraid, I walk along almost invisible paths, listening to the lake, to the occasional cries of owls or foxes, and I feel that I am in my life.
Nowhere else on earth.
