“Come on, Cerbe!”

A sharp trio of loud barks answered the woman’s call, along with the pounding of heavy paws and rapid panting.

The speaker, a beautiful young woman with flowers woven into her dark hair and summery dress, turned back as a massive brown thing leaped over her head, tripped over its gigantic paws, and skidded into the ground.

She laughed as the. . . dog? What kind of dog had three heads? bounced back up and licked her face with its massive tongues. She reached up and scratched the middle head behind the ears. The left head growled at the middle, and the dog’s (dogs’?) owner gave it the same treatment. Then she pushed the other heads aside to pet the smallest, white where the others were brown with white spots. “Don’t be mean to your little brother,” she scolded the other heads, who lowered in shame, “He deserves love just as much as you do.

“Now!” She stepped back, smiling, and took off at a jog, the beast lumbering on behind her. “We have to be back home by six, all right? There’s plenty of time to go to the dog park, isn’t there?”

A trio of happy barks answered her question.