New information found fertile ground in me. I was so stretched out, trying to understand, trying to be receptive. He may well have wished me to relax, but I was determined not to miss any word or any signal.

I looked at him. He was an imposing and handsome man of seventy years. His eyes captivated my attention, piercingly blue and crackling with energy.

When I arrived back at our camp that evening I found Lothar had gone completely insane. He was both afraid and dangerously aggressive. I spent the entire night in the stepvan with him.