SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,39

animal. Because after their own death their precious soul mind accidentally be reborn in some Giovanni, with what it would appreciate in value enormously, at least in my humble opinion.«

»On the other hand the ear in these circles is considered to be the door to the soul«, I tossed in. »The soul is supposed to leave the body through the ear. At least this is what Samantha told me. And didn’t the hooded bloke declare that you are about to experience the ritual inside the cage? He talked about the opening of hearts so that all souls could have a cozy chat. To me that sounded like ›Let’s do some exploratory ear drilling and let’s see what we can find.‹«

»I don’t know your Samantha. But her theory creates the impression that she might get along perfectly with the pack of theosophists. The ritual the guy talked about is sheer acting. An, how do you call it, emblematic exoneration ceromy. Once a month, the penguins in tuxes collect us at the Largo Argentina, bring us to their bunker and build their cage around us, which can barely called a cage. We could easily escape from it without your air show, but instead we make tortured faces to increase the pity. Well, at first there’s some proper singing, a little abracadabra, some reincarnation and a lot of bloviating of otherworldly nonsense. Then comes the stunt with the saber. These idiots actually think of their race as equal to ours. Sheer megalomania, but whatever, Adriano Celentato also thought of himself as a great actor for a while! On the zenith of the fuss, the saber gets swung, the knots loosened and the poor, poor animals get released from the cage. Then there’s a right royal meal every time, in order to propitiate us for some exchange of souls later, and afterwards the travel back to misery. A little boring if you’ve been through the procedure for about thirty times, but still more sublime than stealing salami from an old woman’s sandwich.«

I started to wonder. Could Samantha, who had studied the theosophical subject so hard, have been wrong in such a volatile matter? It didn’t seem very likely to me because she had identified the killing method of »deseeding ears« as a specialty within their theory. How could she have fixated on the exact opposite of what Giovanni had experienced? I took another try in showing the inconsistencies of the theosophists’ kind-hearted image.

»Giovanni, during his preach hoody talked about a miracle that was soon to be revealed«, said while we still running like the devil himself was chasing our ears. »The whole thing didn’t really sound like an international understanding of souls. More like world politics. Can you maybe tell me what that was about?«

»I don’t know about world politics, I have a full plate with the politics of bumming. And I don’t know much about miracles either. And like I said, these guys are nuts all and sundry. Maybe the master thinks of it being a great miracle when he puts a lighter to his butt as he farts and it makes Bang!«

»I don’t understand it. It doesn’t make sense. Why would the smart Samantha start a rumor like that if pretty much everyone in Rome knows that it can’t be true.«

»I have a theory: She lied to you, Francis!«

Without wanting to admit it to myself, I had already thought of that. The reason for this feisty lie was hidden from me though, but it suggested the assumption that these strange murders were connected to something more complex and – more than that – far more outrageous than this silly chapeau-claque-club’s necromancy. And so I had to go back to zero with my sleuthing, given that the characteristic wound also applied to the victims that bitten the dust before my arrival.

»Okay, one last question, Sicilian«, I said, slowly realizing that the previous events had sapped my energy quite a lot. »If these batmen don’t celebrate happy ear studding, and in contrary just want to cuddle our fellows esoterically, if there lies no danger within them, can you then please tell me why and whom we are fleeing from?«

Giovanni decreased his pace like a pendulum that lost momentum, until eventually he stood still. I also stopped and stared at him. The glowing, reddish eyes, the zigzaggy graying whiskers, the half-bald chin, the whole face that was covered in scratches now was an absolute astonishment.

»Uh, hasn’t this been your idea?« he said after a while.

I