Summersby yelped and pulled the handle of the scalpel with both hands. Laila snatched the IV pole that Summersby had used to submerge. The thing was often used in the last few hours. She got up and screamed in pain. Her damaged back felt as if several knives in the lumbar area were rammed into her.

She brandished the IV stand like a club and slapped it against Summersby's head. With a quiet 'Uff' he tipped unconscious to the side. Laila sank to his knees and began to cough and choke. Her wet hair hung in thick strands before her eyes. Through that curtain, she stared at Summersby hatefully.

His face and hands looked as if they had recently been frozen. His skin was pale red and cracked, where she had come in contact with the murky broth. Laila hurried into the kitchen, she pulled a knife from the cutlery drawer and tore open the door to the broom cupboard. She pulled the cable of the vacuum cleaner out to the stop and cut it off with the knife blade.

She ran to the bathroom. Summersby was still lying motionless on the floor. Laila wrapped him like a mummy in the cable. Then she pulled the blade from his calf. Summersby woke moaning. Laila threw the bloody blade out the door. She went to the sink and drank the cool water from her cupped hands for a long time.

Then she turned on Summersby's back. He squinted up at her with narrowed eyes. Laila stood over his face, legs apart. He blinked up like a mole. Laila looked at him contemptuously. "Who pisses last ..." Her urine hit his face. He threw his head back and forth. Laila struggled to keep his mouth open. "... pisses the longest."

He still threw his head back and forth. Laila's urine flew in large drops from his face. Laila laughed mirthlessly and stepped back. She still smelled his urine on her skin. She turned to the huge shower. Summersby started screaming. "I'm hurt, I need ..." Laila rolled her eyes annoyed, she had heard that song many times before.

Quickly Laila grabbed a towel. She closed her nose and forced him to open his mouth. She pressed the towel in. She hit him on the forehead. "Do not worry, I will not let you bleed to death, I still have a lot with you, now be quiet, otherwise I'll cut your eyes out with the scalpel and stuff your mouth with it." Laila walked to the shower. She had a fabulous idea.

****************************************************************

They took Laila's travel bags together and carried them into the living room. Laila insisted on sleeping on the couch. Ultimately, she could only persuade Dick to give in by plausibly assuring him that the fantastic view through the patio door and the small garden behind the house with the huge fir trees in the background was much more valuable than a real bed. Dick brought pillows, sheets and blanket.

Together, they set up Laila's place to sleep. Every time they touched - and Laila made sure that happened frequently - Dick blushed and stammered stupid stuff. After arranging Laila's bed, Laila pulled into Dicks bathroom. She would have liked to ask him if he would accompany her, but she feared his still-red skull would begin to whistle, like a overheated kettle, and say good-bye to the rest of his body. Maybe a slower one, rather two.

Laila opted for black jeans and a black baby-doll shirt that would fit tightly over the chest and then pop in soft folds. She pulled on a light brown suede jacket with fringes. Dick regarded her elevator doubtfully. "It's getting too hot in the pub." Laila let the jacket slip off her shoulders and showed a lot of brown skin.

Dick grinned. "It's getting hot in the pub now. Do we want to go?" Laila looked doubtfully at her watch. "It's just 7:00 pm." "The pub is empty at 10:00 pm Most of the guests are farmers or work in the factory, they have to get up early."

They stepped in front of the hut. The evening air gradually cooled off. Dick's eyes darted back and forth between the Dodge and the Porsche. "Which one do we take?" Laila looked at him. "I think it's not far to the pub and Officer, we can barely lift a few glasses and drive afterwards. " She put an arm around his shoulders confidentially and whispered in his ear. "I heard the Marshall here is a pretty tough bone."

Dick grinned at her. He looked boyish with his black and white plaid lumberjack shirt and blue jeans. "I do not drink alcohol." Laila rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Tell me, do not you have any vice?" contrite he looked at the Porsche. "And if, I would love to impress the whole pub and the baby ..."

He nodded in the direction of the Porsche. "That's childish, I know, but ... " he ran his hand over his neck " ... I think they all consider me a pretty loser. " Laila found his openness refreshing. Should he state, like ten naked Negroes? Perhaps he gained enough self-confidence to be seduced by Laila that night. Laila threw the keys to him.

"Then throw some macho clothes on, I'll go on foot and meet at the pub." Dick explained her way and Laila trudged through the forest. After a few meters hardly a ray of sunlight passed through the dense tops of the trees and Laila enjoyed the cool air and the dim light. Numerous bird sounds accompanied her and gave a wonderful concert. Laila felt great.

How long had it been since she had not thought of death and terror for hours? Since Dick had asked her to hand over her papers. Dick was good for her, he allowed Laila a trip to the normal, healthy world. Laila was willing to enjoy the trip and use this short break to recharge her reserves and then go to her very last assignment before settling down in Canada.

Maybe she would breed horses, or dogs. Definitely something with animals. Animals were honest. You got what you saw. Maybe Benedict would join her. They were both wealthy enough to enjoy a carefree life.

Laila kept revealing in plans for the future when she suddenly noticed something. She stopped and listened. No bird concert anymore. It was dead quiet in the forest. Laila looked around attentively. Nothing to see or hear. Maybe a fox or some other predator roamed the woods. Suddenly there was demonic laughter in her head. Laila pressed both hands against her temples. Despair overtook her.

Except for the laughter in her nightmares, she had not had an uninvited guest in her head for years. Just now. Laila ran away blindly and left the path. She ran wildly through knee-high ferns and stinging nettles, past gnarled tree trunks. She reached a clearing and stopped breathing heavily. The laughter in her head died. Unbelieving, Laila looked around.

Golden light fell on the flat surface, reminding Laila of the clearing on which she had received her Symbolia consecration. Her skin was covered in goose bumps. "You're crazy," she said in a low voice to herself. In such a Caff hardly a Satan sect would make trouble. In addition, this clearing looked very different.

No altar, but something different, strange. At the end of the opposite semicircle, Laila saw several square flower pots filled with beautiful blooming roses. Who the hell was bothering to plant flowers in the middle of the forest? The roses bloomed in different colours. Red, pink, white, yellow - one blossom more beautiful than the other. Laila took a hesitant step towards her.

Restless, she looked at the impenetrable darkness behind the flowers. 'I'm really ready for vacation,' Laila thought. Some teenagers probably had a romantic place here. Laila was startled as a few red eyes opened in the darkness behind the planters.

Laila thought he could make out huge, curved horns above them - the ram man. Screaming, she flew around and rushed back the way she had run. This time a huge howling sounded behind her. It did not come out of her head. The ram man had found her. Laila ran even faster.