SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,70

undergrowth a pale light shimmered from a window of a box-like building. On the shore a gray rubber raft with outboard engine was moored. It was a little suicidal to visit a killer in his slaughterhouse. But I hadn’t endured all this madness for two days, just to crawfish out now. That I was put Antonio at risk because auf my mad curiosity did bother me though. But hadn’t he said just two days ago »I want to apprentice to you, yes, I want to be your Dr. Watson«? Life’s not easy at the bottom!

»And you’re absolutely sure that there are no floaties lying around somewhere?« I yelled at Antonio through the howling gale.

He shrugged.

»Scary area«, he said. »Looks a lot like a freaking test of courage for real men.«

»But, il mio amico, you are a real man. Above all, in contrary to us boring straight guys you are actually able to judge a real man!«

Despite the omnipresent coldness, which gripped me to the marrow, I was capable of a cocky smile.

»You will excuse me though, when I dare a jump in good old broads’ way ...« the black Oriental replied, and in the next moment he was in the water at a clumsy

bound. (6) I believe I even saw him hold his nose with his front paws. Now it was my turn to give proof of my masculinity, which could hardly mean that I cautiously dipped one paw into the water to guess the temperature.

Just like Antonio I eventually made an effort and jumped into the boisterous waves. My worries about the water temperature immediately proved well-founded. Had I been pretty cold on the shore, I now believed to instantly die from freezing. Even the warmth of spring hadn’t been enough to heat up the river a little bit. The winter frost was still snoozing in its black bowels. But that was the smaller problem, the other and bigger one was the struggle against drowning. In the boisterous waves Antonio and I paddled as panic-fuelled as if we were begging for mercy in sped up sign language. While we performed water gymnastics with four paws, we tried to hold our heads or at least our noses up just as desperately. But the waves weren’t considerate of us and kept splashing on us with roaring screams. We swallowed so much Tiber water that, if we didn’t drown, we would probably die from the countless poisons in this sludge.

But the pathetic paddling was rewarded. The shore, which consisted of cobbles at this spot, got closer, and after some more paw-rowing we were finally able to escape to the mossy stones. Due to the different water temperatures the rain suddenly felt like a warm shower. While we threw up the Tiber’s overabundant gift, we also enjoyed our heroic deed a little.

In the twilight of the streetlights the Tiber Island from here looked romantic, even behind the rain curtain. Antonio and I turned towards the box-shaped cabin in the shrubs. Compared with the bridge element of the Ponto Rotto, which was decorated with fish bodies, the smudgy, wooden little rat-shop reminded of illegally disposed bulk garbage. Antonio jumped on the sill of the only window that was enlightened. He made his head spring back and forth in rapid succession to gain better eyesight. Then he stood on his hind legs and pressed his whole body against the window frame. After a couple of times it yielded with a squeaky sound, and the window was open.

»Let’s go, come up here! The going seems to be good«, he whispered from above.

»Slow down«, I warned. »Maybe the guy’s in there.«

»Even better. Then he can immediately be part of a scientific experiment, which documents the effect of twenty claws on a human face!«

He didn’t wait for an answer but jumped inside. I hesitated for a couple of moments, while I eyed the surroundings. Inside the rubber raft, which was tied to a stone, four longish wooden boxes peeped from underneath a rain blanket. Maybe these contained oxygen bottles for diving, I guessed. And maybe we did wrong by Umberto, and he wasn’t more than an obsessed nerd, who wanted to pursue his bizarre projects in complete isolation and who also enjoyed some water sports. Just a lovable weird guy. A little like Gustav. Hadn’t Sancta mentioned that he loved our kind to death? Why would he perform such bestial things? I had to follow Antonio if I wanted to find out why. In a moment of extraterrestrial