SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,14

emeralds. The slim, smooth torso was strung-out like a pipeline, the legs as well, not to forget the tail that looked like a never-ending skinny snake. He was the Pomp and the Glory, and if Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, or any other luxury fashion brand whatsoever, chose someone of our kind as a top model for the presentation of their rags, he’d be the beau. Although I enjoy smoothies as much as nausea, I liked him from the very start.

»Antonio, tu figlio di fornicato, do you have to kill all joy every time?«, the pirate yelled and seemed so angry he was close to an infarct.

»Why every time?«, Antonio said. »Would I look this stunning if I watched this sad performance of yours every time? One can get acne from that!«

He turned to face me.

»Sia salutato, stranger! Welcome to Rome, the most beautiful city in the world. It’s a real shame you were plagued by two disasters right at the outset. First the sight of this poor sister, and then Giovanni’s Marlon Brando for morons.«

Giovanni’s facial expression couldn’t decide whether to keep showing anger or resignation. Right in front of my eyes, the frightening pirate had dwindled to a poor codger.

»You have to excuse him, stranger«, Antonio said and circled around us in mannered motions. His »easy-pawing« style, his feminine voice and his witty parlance, his whole appearance made him a terrific dandy. »The unscrupulous swine, which just left him here, was from Sicily. That’s some water-surrounded wasteland where people don’t do anything else than eating pepperonis, speaking a language that consists of 25 words and watching these moldered Godfather movies without a single break. I’m afraid this rubbed off on good old Giovanni way too much.«

»Well, I am a stranger«, I said. »But I also have a name: Francis! I already know who you are.«

I nodded towards the body.

»And by now, unfortunately I also know that Rome is quite the hotspot.«

»Oh that ...«

His voice did carry some sadness but one of a kind that accepts fate with dignity. Antonio didn’t seem as battered by the horror as me. To him this incident wasn’t more than unfortunate routine.

»Yeah, that’s actually distressing, Francis«, he said, while he helplessly stared at the body with his phosphorous green eyes. »But in a big and chaotic city like this one incidents of that kind are normal. Rome is a whore and a monster. But also an angel. My experience tells me: It was a bad accident in one of the busy streets around us. Or maybe a fatal fight. Must have happened around noon when the others took a siesta and were dreaming of the Vatican bells. Also, she could be the victim of some maniac who calls killing his hobby. What do I know? Anyway, there’s no reason to let it drag us down.«

»Maybe there is«, the pirate joined back in, after he had apparently recovered from his humiliation.

»I do get about a lot. And from the one or other corner I hear a lot of whispering. Recently, more and more bodies, which are battered like this, keep showing up around town. Of course I don’t know if this one has a lot in common with the others. And of course I can’t tell what the wounds of the others looked like. Aiutaci dio!«

Yeah, may God help us. But above all I wanted to be hit by a descending meteoroid right now – if I gave in the temptation to play detective again. Because without exhausting my »savvy box« too much, I immediately noticed some conflicts in Antonio’s list of explanations. I felt the never really extinct fervor blaze up again, a fervor called curiosity. All my life this damnable illness had went along with me, and like every bad illness in the end it hadn’t brought anything but pain and despair. Often I had rebelled against it and decided to keep my sensitive nose out of bloody mysteries. And yet, in the end I had always given in and had let curiosity eat myself up completely. Terrible scars – most of them in my soul – had always been the consequence. So should I again ran towards disaster with my eyes open when my original plan had been a cheerful »Salve Roma!«?

»One of your guesses probably is dead on target, Antonio«, I said after some contemplation. »Unless ...«

I turned away from the body, whereat I almost got sick as I purposely turned a blind eye to the evil. I was about to