Vijji is a middle-aged housewife in the Indian state Orissa. One day, she is cooking in her family home when she sees that her dog is squaring off with a cobra. Frightened, she calls her sister, who advises her to call the doctor. The doctor, in turn, tells her that the best thing to do is to wait. Vijji sits at the window. She watches the dog and the cobra as they’re locked in a dance, one lunging as the other steps back. She falls asleep, remembering the dead snake she saw on her wedding day, which everyone believed to be a bad omen. When she wakes up, she sees her dog move forward once more; the snake retreats. She goes outside, picks up her dog, and carries him into the house, wondering which of the two of them were supposed to have died that day.