1. How is the relationship between Ramon and the boy mirrored in the differences between the two sheep dogs, Pedro and Sancho?

2. What specific motives do you suppose the boy's father had in mind when he sent his son to spend a season with Old Ramon?

3. Toward the end of the sandstorm episode, the boy tells Ramon, "I will not be afraid. . . . You are here." Contrast this sentiment with the boy's earlier angry rejection of the old man. What has taken place between the two incidents to account for the boy's change of heart?

4. Ramon recalls crossing the Mojave Desert with the boy's grandfather. Why does this adventure—and its aftermath—figure so powerfully in the old man's memory?

5. Old Ramon makes a sharp distinction between loneliness and simply being alone. From Ramon's point of view, how is it possible to be lonely...