Swan song

Alfie worked almost day and night. He has long been on the screen from evening to morning, 14 hours a day. Wrote emails, answered emails and downloaded documents. Tireless. The four scanners in the apartment next door were humming and whirring; they had been working nonstop for a year and a half. Alfie only went to the neighboring apartment once, usually in the morning, took the documents that had already been scanned and stacked them in the corridor, where the men from the garbage collection picked them up every day and took them for paper recycling. With a handful of dollars, Alfie could delegate this activity. He filled the large input loading lanes with new food, with hundreds of books, journals and magazines. Marybel, Jezebel, Isabel and Pombel worked tirelessly and were incredibly proud that they filled the hard drives with terabytes non-stop. No, Alfie was no fool to give his machines names and to provide the three ladies with an experienced man. When he christened the Pombel, he corrupted the name of the Marquis de Pombal, who, among other things, led Lisbon to new prosperity. Well, he looked back proudly from the door, the girls and the marquis had food for the next 24 hours and would fill the hard drives page by page. He locked the door carefully.

It took him 40 minutes to get downtown to Julia's apartment. She would greet him in her negligee like every morning and hug him, the Arabia coffee would be ready in no time and then he would lie down in her bed and immediately fall asleep. She would kiss him awake at lunchtime with her warm womanly body and they would roll together for the 7 minutes to the pond, it was a fixed ritual like the sunrise. Although Julia could walk normally, she drove the Ferrari to the pond, which was as certain as the sunrise. Sitting in the Ferrari gave her the opportunity to show her beautiful breasts openly and a little bit of her pubic hair to attract the attention of passers-by. Our shy Julia is certainly a little bit cheeky, isn't she? The mallard ducklings had grown up and two guys had wandered off and were exploring the world outside the pond on their own. The six little sisters stayed together at the pond, where there was food and they could swim in the pond as they pleased. The parents were away one day and there was duck breast in the town hall that day. The mayor of Giza was visiting from faraway Egypt, and duck was kosher, halal for the distinguished guest.

Alfie usually cooked lunch. He had never cooked before, but he couldn't see Julia eating any sandwich from any supermarket with any filling just to avoid wasting valuable time and accumulate completely unnecessary fat around her hips from the sandwiches. That shouldn't work! He skipped all the sandwiches and cooked fresh vegetables, sides and fresh meat from the butcher. Everything was fresh from the farmers market, he much preferred shopping there. In his time there was none of that, just uniform waste from the food factories. He had never learned to cook, but he could. Recipes were easy to decipher; he didn't watch a single cooking show on television, but interpreted the recipes conscientiously. They had lunch together, Julia broke away from the world of gods for these 20 minutes and let Alfie entertain her. Eat well and healthily, and the fat rolls were gone in no time.

He usually had a button in his ear and listened to the news. He was completely overwhelmed, the librarian in his chest shouted ecstatically. He followed the events up close and in real time, which he would one day exhibit in his museum. "Imagine, Julia, you were there as the boy king Tutankhamen circles in his chariot in battle against the horde of Hittites, as the wheels rattle over a boulder and he falls, shattering his knee. As he lies half-conscious on the sick bed and the murderer hired by his successor bashes his skull in. It makes a difference whether you are there live or whether you are there 4,000 years later and read about it in a glossy illustrated book."

Julia smiled. How similar their work was! She also collected everything, the smallest scraps that could still be found today, in order to immerse herself in the murderous, magical and mythical world of the gods. Her world was also a museum, so to speak; she too had to learn to discover and uncover politically and socially demanded cleansing in her legends and myths. To recount their sexual adventures, their frauds and swindles, their small and large crimes and to describe a clever analysis of the political and social control mechanisms, yes, that was their mission. The ancient Greeks didn't create the world of gods so that those of us born later would have something to read by the bonfire. No, the legends and stories were intended to shape, educate and guide ancient Greek society. And that was Julia's job, to bring it to light, to give us a clear picture, because our society also needed to be further shaped, educated and guided.

Alfie, this jack of all trades, always brought a little sweet dessert with Arabia coffee. So they smoked a good digestive cigarette and then got back to work. Julia sank back into her lore, Alfie grabbed the wicker basket and went hunting to find the ingredients for tomorrow's lunch menu.

But sometimes in the afternoon he would sit alone by the pond and talk to the waterfowl. The mallard sisters, but also the three gray heron ladies, listened to his melodious voice. He told them about the board committee, which was becoming impatient, and about the director, who was fighting like a lioness for her Alfred. He had returned home for a jump and brought a backpack full of hard drives, more than 850 terabytes of past history. He jumped back to Julia's time as quickly as possible; he hadn't been gone for a second. But they gave him a reprieve, maybe two more months. Yes, he had been with Julia for 16 months and was grateful for every additional day.

How often did he toss and turn, half asleep, wondering whether he should return to his time in 2932 or whether he should stay with Julia forever? All he had to do was destroy or severely damage the communicator in his chest and they would no longer be able to transfer him back at the push of a button. Of course, they could send sheriffs, but that was unlikely. He had heard rumors that some time travelers never returned. No, it wasn't dinosaurs that had eaten them, it wasn't gladiators that had speared them, no, but they had found a much more useful life in another time. Just like him.

At night he now spoke almost every day with the director, Dr. Jessie Huntsman. She was about the age his mother would be today. And she took the time for her best man. She played neither a mother nor a siren, she simply felt responsible for him, for his spiritual salvation. She was interested in his work and they discussed in detail what his new department should look like. The space required, the showcases and screen spaces, the printers and copiers for students and visitors, the storage space on the servers and how much money she had to spend for all of this.

But she also felt responsible for his soul; that was a quality of her dazzling personality. Alfie let her in on everything; she knew about Julia, her doctoral thesis, Yvonne and also little Robert. It was a shock to her right from the start that Alfie took Julia as his wife — really and seriously. Jessie Huntsman wasn't jealous in the least, she had followed the development of this relationship from the beginning, she saw how the sight of the angelic glow on Julia's face shot like lightning to Alfie's loins as she rolled out of the university building. She understood how one thing led to another. She was just afraid that Alfie would give up his assignment or even his job at the National Library. The thought was absolutely real, she saw it much earlier than Alfie himself. She just knew she wouldn't give it up without a fight. The committee would tear her head off, that was as certain as Amen in church.

Her own personal file already bore the taint of a renegade, but how could she have prevented Charles Stellarion Frenkel from being proclaimed King of Araucania and Patagonia? None of these considerations applied to the committee; they were all tough concrete heads who only clung to dots and commas, without any human emotion. Jessie Huntsman, on the other hand, was of a completely different breed. She looked after the spiritual well-being of her around 200 employees. She took the word in the truest sense: the soul had to be whole. Everything else was secondary, affairs or divorces, botched ski holidays or inheritance disputes in the family. All of this could be tackled, analyzed, solved and done. But she would never shrug off a soul hanging askew in the closet. Jessie Huntsman was not only a technically excellent manager of her department. No, she was a manager who took on more responsibility than just having proper balance sheets or budgets drawn up. This is how we have to see the relationship between the headmistress and Alfie.

As I said, apart from her, he could only talk to the birds. They nodded wisely because they understood everything well and because they picked up a grain while nodding. Alfie loved Julia as he had never loved any woman, not even Hilda. It would be so easy to stay with Julia. But he would betray his mission, and he would betray the kind-hearted director. This was more important to him than the betrayal of the National Library; that had no real weight. The National Library was definitely screwed. A termination — so what? someone else would be found quickly, no doubt. But the thought of betraying the director hurt him. He still had 6 weeks to decide. He shook himself before standing up and bidding the birds farewell.

Alfie's neighbor on Pálffygasse was Roland, a former cyclist. A taciturn but extremely friendly man. They always greeted each other and he once went over to borrow a few sugar cubes for his coffee. Roland saw Alfie's look at the 6 shiny racing bikes hanging on hooks from the ceiling. "I drive my route every morning, keeps my body fit and my mind awake," grumbled Roland Garber. They had a very friendly chat, and Roland's eyebrows twitched when Alfie confessed that he had last ridden a bike 30 years ago, when he was a teenager. Roland lifted a wheel off the hook. "It's an older piece, but just right for doing another round." All bikes were sparkling clean, oiled and the chains greased. Roland took care of his bikes; he would never let them go to waste. He handed Alfie the Cannondale and asked him to do a few laps again. Roland had lent him a helmet for the first ride. "Your life is always in danger in this city traffic, Alfred." Yes, he rang Alfie's doorbell early in the morning and cycled along "his" route with him at a leisurely pace. Trembling with awe, Alfie mounted the bike and followed the old gentleman. It was a really well thought out loop, you avoided the main traffic and used as many paths next to green spaces as if you were in the countryside. Roland told him about a specialty store that his two sons ran, where the prices were affordable and the quality was as honest as a handshake. Alfie bought his outfit, two pairs of cycling shorts, four fitted shirts, a helmet, gloves and the special shoes.

Of course he could have bought a new bike, but refusing Roland's loan would have been an unnecessary affront. And yes, now he understood why Julia had talked about the wind in her hair. The wind glided over his bald head, brushing away the last remnants of sleep like dust and leaving him to think as he pedaled hard. It was a new, good discovery to drive Roland's route for 20 minutes before showering and having a morning coffee. His thoughts revolved around the director and Julia; there was nothing more important. He had smiled with satisfaction when the headmistress told him that she would nominate him as her successor when she retired. It would be an honor, Alfie said to the face of Jessie Huntsman on the video call across 900 years. "And Grandpa Arthur would look down proudly from his cloud," he added. "Grandpa knighted me and sent me on a quest to prove myself and make him proud. He was a good man, my grandpa," Alfie said. Jessie nodded, even though she had no idea who this grandpa was. "He raised you to be an extraordinary man. Decency and honor and backbone don't come automatically with your mother's milk."

The wind blew around his bald head and made his thoughts clear and free. He had loved his Hilda; it had been a love match — at least for his part. In the first year they made love day and night, with intimate spray and a condom of course. And Hilda was a good wife and a great mother, without a doubt. Only the devil in her loins worried him; she suffered like a dog when one of her lovers died from the virus. And when she took Orlando as her lover, a blonde-haired angel of 14, she gave him everything and took everything from him. Sweet Orlando, who was dying in her arms — like a burnt-out candle wick, his eyes went out and broke, the virus had taken him away, heartless and merciless. Hilda locked herself in her bedroom for days and took her own life. She had ruined too many men and she could no longer bear the fact that she was the one to blame for Orlando's death.

Waltraud, Heinrich and he stood at her grave, blind with tears, and witnessed the end of the world. He withdrew, apologized at all public occasions and avoided people. He had seen how Hilda had blossomed in Orlando's arms, how she had exulted and rejoiced in her happiness in the boy's arms. Hilda brought the shy Orlando into her marriage bed and let him share in her ecstasy, because he was not a stranger, but her lover, her Alfie. She held his hand and almost crushed it in her ecstasy. The beautiful Orlando gave him shy glances as he dutifully drove Hilda to new heights, lap after lap. Hilda held Alfie's hand, just as she held his hand when she let her little machine hum on her body until late into the night and finally brought it to an end with her hand, shouting and rejoicing. Tears welled up in Alfie's eyes because he was crying for his Hilda and the shy Orlando. A 14-year-old teenager who didn't deserve to die like a dog in Hilda's arms.

Alfie turned around at Türkenschanzpark and sat on a park bench, taking a short smoke break. His eyes slid over the parked cars, because this parking lot was 'the' parking lot where businessmen and girls exchanged their juices hastily and breathlessly. No, Alfie was neither a voyeur nor a Peeping Tom, his thoughts were elsewhere as his eyes indifferently followed the undulating, rolling and rhythmic beating of waves behind the fogged car windows. No, Hilda was not an easy girl who would have had such cheap and shameless fun in a parking lot like that. The devil in her womb fell in love when the hormones followed the compass — it was that simple and merciless. And Waltraud also had this devil in her womb, he thought sadly, she too would experience the ups and downs of physical love like poor Hilda. Waltraud had tearfully assured him and Heinrich that she would live a chaste life like a nun in a monastery, but father and son knew about the power of the devil who lurked between her thighs. Alfie angrily stubbed out the cigarette butt and threw it into the trash can. Now we went back, slightly downhill, with the wind on the bald head.

Every morning Alfie did a lap around Roland's route. Today was Wednesday, yesterday he was in Julia and Yvonne's arms having sex with both girls. Alfie pedaled and increased the pace, it went slightly uphill to Türkenschanzpark — he had been lying between the thighs of both girls and now he pedaled, trampling against the thought of physical love, as if to make him forget it. Yvonne was a good, honest person, she wasn't a cheap slut. Yes, she changed her boys' like others changed their shirts, but it was always an honest thing on her part. She reminded Alfie painfully of the devil in Hilda and Waltraud's womb when he lay with her.

Not many girls surrendered to this devil without a fight, Julia for example. She had rebuffed the devil and forcefully separated from little Robert, because she knew exactly about the devil in her womb. No, Julia and Yvonne were completely different, only when it came to girl sex they were like twins, eagerly snapping at each other's lips. How did the director put it? "Keep your love for Julia like the intoxicated rush of the wedding night and the rush honeymoon, on honeymoon. Store that rush in your soul and come back before the rush wears off and the routine of everyday life wears you out and burns you out." Oh, she was very smart, that Jessie Huntsman, she stuck to facts and realities, but she also knew about love and falling in love.

Cigarette break at Türkenschanzpark. Yes, it was a frenzy in which he and Julia reeled. For the first time in his life, he was more in love than ever before. But in his mind there also lived a serious, critical and incorruptible Alfred. "Julia's feelings will be dulled by everyday life. The devil in her womb will really take a toll on her and there will be one Robert after the other. Today she loves you madly, today she is still in the high of your honeymoon. But her giving in and her consent when she accepted you into the girl's sex and actively included you having Sex with her girlfriend Yvonne, that should give you something to think about. She only gave in gradually and hesitantly to Yvonne's urging, but finally she gave in, "That's the crucial fact. Nothing is set in stone and for eternity. Robert after Robert, they will bounce her in ecstasy like a flat stone on the surface of the water, but in the end the stone will sink, don't forget that!" Passersby shook their heads, a professional-looking cyclist smoking!

Alfie shook his head too, remembering Julia's words about how hot she felt when the little Dwarf Long Nose exposed himself in front of her. How she struggled with the sweet temptation and the bitter renunciation. And what did he have to say to that, he, the stupid oaf? "Size isn't everything, Julia!" Oh, what a great platitude, invented by small-cocked envious men. Julia's eyes had shone feverishly as she described Robert's nakedness to him in minute detail. How would he have reacted if she had succumbed to the temptation?

He angrily put the next cigarette back in the pack, only one, not two during the smoke break! He couldn't imagine that Julia wasn't in his arms and someone else was giving her the gift of ecstasy. He shook as if shivering, the thought was absurd! Julia was in his arms, not Robert's. Julia made love with him, she renounced the great Robert. They gave each other the ecstasies, not Robert, not the Dwarf Long Nose or anyone else. And — she sought to be close to him, she lay softly in the crook of his arm so that her exuberant libido could tremble at his side. There was only her exuberant, overwhelming libido, snuggled up to her Alfie — and no Robert anywhere! But the other Alfred had driven his poison arrow into his heart, the doubts remained.

Once a week he went over to Roland to clean and oil the Cannondale and properly grease the chain. They didn't talk much. The old man smiled mildly as Alfie told him about his first bike. It may have been a pink girl's bike, but it shone and gleamed with chrome and that impressed everyone. Once Alfie had talked about his lover, Julia. Roland had looked up. "I'm married and have grown children who we raised to be good, honest Christians. The best sex is when you've conquered the Großglockner Pass, believe me." This settled the issue once and for all.

He couldn't get the thing with Yvonne and Robert out of his mind. He had ignored Yvonne's temptations for a long time. He had taken Julia as his wife, not Yvonne; he was able to align himself with these guardrails and hold on. It was Julia's hand that took his hand during girl sex and gently glided it over Yvonne's most sensitive femininity. Oh, he shouldn't sulk grumpily at the foot of the bed, he should calmly step in front of the door, stretch out his palm and feel the raindrops on his hand, feel Yvonne's nectar with his own hand! It was Julia who forcefully pushed Yvonne aside and took him right there; she broke the rules of girls' sex quite freely and shamelessly. And it was Julia who smiled in confusion as Yvonne immediately took him too, unbridled, wild and dominant. Julia, who just smiled in confusion and didn't screech in protest. He surrendered to Yvonne's octopus-armed embrace because Julia smiled and didn't scream bloody murder.

Alfie pedaled hard, it went uphill to Türkenschanzpark and his thoughts were, to put it mildly, completely confused. Julia had patiently listened to Robert's suffering, week after week. She let him hug her when they lay on his bed. She hadn't stopped Robert's hand as it slipped under her shirt and found her teats. Yes, week after week they lay naked together, little Robert and motherly Julia, his big friend. She just gently pushed him back when he wanted to rush forward. Cuddling is enough, she said. Robert pressed himself breathlessly against Julia's side, his hand inside his boxershorts and Thursday after Thursday it ran down her trembling inner thighs. Julia understood his automatically bursting wetness, because he didn't attack her, but rather his instincts had to take hold, no matter what! The poor guy.

And then the bang. Julia had shied away from taking the last step. Was it the fear of being caught with a minor? Was it fear that the scandal would destroy her academic career before it even began? What was she shying away from as she let it rain over her trembling inner thighs Thursday after Thursday? Alfie shook his head, not knowing the answer. She had just told him that she had to end it, that she didn't dare take the last step after the last step, she had said through tears. Dwarf Nose was never allowed to take her properly, she couldn't open the final gate to let the devil in her body off the leash, she sobbed. The dams would break, she had said through tears, but she simply couldn't allow that. Never ever!

Alfie had taken her tear-stained face in his hands and calmed her. The last, decisive step hadn't happened, he had murmured, she hadn't let Dwarf Nose win in the end, hadn't allowed herself to be tainted or defiled. And isn't this last step the one she wants to avoid? Alfie said, half questioning. Julia nodded through tears. She felt that Alfie largely understood her and her confusing feelings. She sobbed that she only ever let Robert whet the snake tattoos between her pressed inner thighs, a little bashful fucky-ficki without penetration, she sobbed. The snakes could easily handle a little bit of wetness. Julia tried a shy, embarrassed smile through her tears, for months the snakes were flooded without incident. It was okay, she sobbed, it was really okay!?

But the tip of Dwarf Nose's nose dipped once, somehow it captured the tip of his nose. Somehow, just a little, but really just the exploding tip of her nose, she sobbed, never the whole dwarf nose, no! She would never allow this last, very last step! Julia looked to Alfie for help through the curtain of tears. She had grabbed Robert's hips and immediately forced him back, so that he had to pull the dwarf's nose out the entire length until only the tip of his nose was submerged. No, she couldn't let him go any further, she had whispered to the heavily pounding, panting Robert, she had sworn to herself! She winced as if under a whiplash as the tip of her nose exploded inside. But she had pushed him out!? Julia's shoulders shook because she was sobbing so hard. Alfie shook his head slowly, in disbelief. "Why just a little, why only with the handbrake on?" Julia hid her face in the crook of his arm, she was completely ashamed. "Because it wasn't just a one-off slip-up, Alfie," she sobbed, crying miserably.

The loving couple made room as the cyclist sat down on the bench next to them. The girl giggled as she looked over at the cars in the secretive parking lot. Her gaze met Alfie's, a look full of sinful shame in foreboding and anticipation. Alfie flinched, because that was the look Mom gave her before she pressed the plunger button to full speed, a sinful, shameful look that had always confused him. Mom had smiled softly and closed her eyes, listening to herself and now he placed his face on her breasts to hear her galloping heartbeat.

Alfie put the cigarette back in the pack. He didn't feel like smoking today. He stood up, nodded encouragingly to the couple and cycled off. It wasn't a good start, now he had his mother and her smile in front of his eyes. A smile that he actually loved so much. This evening, during the video call with the director, he would say with determination in his voice that he wouldn't be coming back, but that he would of course fulfill his order and send her all the hard drives. But he would stay here, with Julia, with Yvonne and with Dwarf Nose. He pedaled resolutely; somehow it felt good to have finally made a decision.

Yvonne came to lunch and was totally perplexed. She couldn't understand that Julia had pulled the ripcord after 99% of the way with Dwarf Nose. "That's so stupid, Julia," Yvonne muttered in disbelief. "You're not just missing a roof tile, you've got a lot of damage to the roof! No billowing, no sliding and no tobogganing, just letting it wiggle around in the damp throat of the Big Snake, nothing else! You pull the ripcord after 99%. You're impossible, girl! A skydiver whose feet are already touching the ground and then she pulls the ripcord and lets him crash on his ass! Julia, you're embarrassing and impossible!" Yvonne looked at Alfie for help, but he shook his head, he supported Julia's decision. OK.

Alfie watched Julia and Yvonne sleeping on the bed, completely exhausted. Yes, that was his honeymoon. The two girls with whom he had spent so many wonderful hours. He had told the director that night that he was finished. He would start packing tomorrow and be transferred back at the agreed time in six days. The director breathed a sigh of relief. "Your honeymoon is over, Alfred?" She asked and he nodded. "Yes, I notice that the honeymoon is over. It became clear to me weeks ago that everyday life now begins. I want to end it where it isn't lame, ordinary and burnt out. I will take the memory of my honeymoon with me into my time, even if the renunciation and the abrupt end hurt me like nothing." He pressed the 'disconnect' button, not wanting Jessie to see him cry.

He gave the bike back to Roland. "I'm heading off, probably to the States. Thank you Roland, you were a big help with the Cannondale. Thank you and goodbye!" Roland asked what was happening with the two apartments. Alfie said, "They now belong to my wife, Dr. Julia Herrnthaler. I have no idea whether she will re-rent or sell them." They shook hands, it was a firm, honest handshake.

Julia left her doctoral thesis behind. She spent most of her time lying on the bed crying or dozing, breathing in Alfie's scent in the sheets. He had told her that on Wednesday night at two o'clock he would return to his time, forever. He had told her very gently and considerately. The news still tore her heart, she sank into his arms and howled like a castle dog. She caught herself. "So in five days, I'll stay behind, Alfie?" He nodded and hugged her. "You always knew that I would carry out my assignment. You knew that our marriage would end like this, had to end like this. I never gave you hope for anything else. I am an honest man, I will not betray the assignment, the director or you either. As a renegade you would have me around every day, but I would develop a fat belly, become lazy and sedate and would spend my whole life accusing you of having stolen my future. No, Julia, that would be one Endless bitterness, no happy ending." Julia nodded tearfully. “Should I cancel Yvonne for Tuesday?” she breathed tonelessly. Alfie looked at her for a long time. "No, why should you? Since I've known you, you've been in Yvonne's arms, every Tuesday, without exception. Let's celebrate our farewell with a little orgy. I'm sure Yvonne wants to say goodbye to me too." Julia nodded. "I'm going to call Johanna and say I'm going on vacation with you for a week. Period."

The men from the garbage collection picked up the last packs of books and magazines. Alfie gave everyone a generous tip, the project was over and he thanked them. Then he went to the notary to finalize the deal with the apartments.

He placed the apartment keys and the documents from the notary on the table in front of Julia. "Julia, the two apartments are now yours. And Marybel, Jezebel, Isabel and Pombel, they also belong to you, that's on the separate sheet. You can keep them, give them away or sell them. They have a resale value of around 300,000 euros. Here I have noted the contact details of interested parties for you, and you should sell them, not scrap them." Julia looked from leaf to leaf. "You didn't rent the apartments, you bought them?" Alfie smiled in confirmation. "Yes, I wanted to give it to you from the start, I bought it the day after our first conversation with this idea in mind and you can rent it out or sell it. Maybe you want to give one to Yvonne, she still lives in the dark hole where there is only the sinful double bed. Your decision, the apartments are officially yours." Julia turned the key ring in her hands uncertainly. "I gave the furniture to Caritas, I gave my clothes, etc. to the homeless charity, and they were happy to accept everything."

Alfie gently pushed the strap of her negligee off her shoulders. "I'm completely free now, my backpack is packed with hard drives. There are over 1,600 terabytes, or 1.6 petabytes, of data from the old world that I'm taking with me into my time. A medal will be hammer-nailed to my chest because that's significantly more than there was before the fire. The director cried with joy in front of the screen last night, and that was the first time I saw the good woman cry. She closed without me informing, my salary doubled a year ago, after a juicy shouting match with the secretary for historical matters, a real old scumbag. Despite all the sadness, a golden future awaits me, and my grandpa Arthur is probably dancing a Hilly-Billy with joy on his cloud." Julia looked up, her smartwatch had been beeping softly. "Are we going to the pond, Alfie?" They went to the pond. They would come to the pond every day. "This peace, this majesty in the middle of the city, and the birds — yes, I'll probably miss those guys for a while."

Yvonne was blown away. "What, you're flying over tomorrow morning? And what about Julia!?" Alfie had come up with a fine and juicy story. "I didn't keep it a secret from Julia from the start that I was fleeing the States because of a bloody blind affair. Jenny, she's a treat, I have to admit that, at 36 she's still the hottest thing between Maryland and California. But she wanted to eat me up, with all my skin and hair, that's what it is, but I knew I was just a disposable item and that was out of the question. Now she has her fifth husband for his well-deserved eternal rest bed and is free to swallow me. She's not only a cannon in bed, but she's also extremely rich, a multi-billionaire, and now it's getting serious, Yvonne, we're talking about a lot of good dollars here. She's offering me a seat on the board of directors in her company that produces computer chips and that Julia would lie in my marriage bed. That was the point where she jumped in the triangle, but I insisted, bigamy or nothing, that was her choice. Julia is my wife, period! I am a good negotiator, Yvonne.

Yvonne sank back on her heels and her fingers gently traced Julia's snakes on her inner thigh. “What do you think about all this shit, love?” she asked Julia. She looked up. "Bigamy isn't new to me, Yvonne, the two of us and Alfie, you probably remember how it works. I can't throw my doctoral thesis into the trash bin, so it's my own responsibility that Alfie and I are separated for six months or so. But with your help, Yvonne, I'll probably fill the void in my bed, what do you think?" Yvonne grinned ear to ear. "With the guy out of the way, I'll finally lie with you every day, love. And while poor Alfie is plowing between Jenny's thighs for his dollars, we'll both grab the dwarf Nose, both of us, sisterly! That's how we do it!" Julia grinned crookedly. "Will you please leave little Robert alone, you greedy bumblebee! You'll give up on the dwarf's nose, you sex-hungry glutton!" All three of them laughed and it was the most wonderful afternoon of girl sex and mixed doubles. Yvonne said goodbye to Alfie with tears.

Julia lay with her face on his chest. "Just three more hours, Alfie. What's going to happen, do you just cross the street and disappear with your bulging backpack in sulfur smoke?" Alfie laughed. "I've thought of something much simpler, Julia. I'll put my backpack on when the seconds tick down. Then a magnificent drum roll and I'll be gone, without any clouds of fog or the smell of sulfur. What do you think?" Julia drummed on his chest. "Don't talk nonsense like that, Alfie! Drum roll!? You're getting childish in your old age, my husband!" Alfie smiled. "Let's enjoy the last few hours, let's celebrate a good, honest farewell with everything that goes with it!" Julia sat up and untied the ribbon in her hair. "Drum roll! What a romantic philanderer you have become, Alfie!" And they loved each other, with all their hearts and souls.

Alfie sat up. "I'll get dressed, I'll be in front of the committee in two minutes." He put the heavy backpack over his shoulder. "I am your husband, Julia, forever and ever!" He kissed her for the last time, putting his whole heart and soul into this farewell kiss.

Julia pulled the negligee over her chest. Alfie, her Alfie, just sat there and looked at her, smiling. He wanted to leave with her face in front of his eyes. He wanted to remember her the same way.

A glow surrounded him. He smiled even more and sent her another air kiss. Now a deafening drum roll began, then he was gone. Julia was frozen in shock. She laughed, crying and laughing. "Oh, you dear childish guy, you!" she exclaimed through tears and laughter. She was blinded by tears as the drum roll slowly faded away. Her heart didn't want to break, it didn't want to stop and give up amidst all the stabbing pain. Her hand crumpled the negligee on her breast. The heart, that damn overfull heart, should finally stop beating and let her fucking sink!

Alfie was gone.

Julia cried all night until she dozed off and got up late in the morning to make herself some coffee. Out of sheer habit, she placed two cups under the drip and laughed when it was finished. No, Alfie was gone, she would have to drink his coffee too. Yvonne came at noon to hug her and kiss her tears away. Julia was happy to only be able to mourn her Alfie a little bit during girl sex. Yvonne also noticed that someone was missing from the mixed doubles. She had no reason to cry, Alfie was on the plane to the USA and she lay with Julia, comforting her body and soul.

Yvonne didn't forget anything, she insisted. Julia dialed Robert's number with trembling fingers. Yes, something had happened, she said. "My girlfriend and I would like to visit you if you would like to have two plump, busty girlfriends, my dear dwarf nose. Yes, to read aloud of course, you stupid." Five minutes later she rolled with Yvonne at her side in the Ferrari into Riemergasse, into the underground car parking lot. Yvonne squeezed herself into the elevator with her ample breasts and assessed the boy. Rocky chased Anni away after she brought a third glass.

Julia lay trembling on Robert's bed, this would be her first time. She looked shyly and timidly at his astonished face and at his huge instrument. His eyes wide with surprise; up until now he had only seen the snakes snaking up her inner thighs, but now he saw the wide-open jaws of the Great Serpent for the first time. Her portal lay in the middle of the masterful tattoo, in the middle of the gaping jaws of the Great Serpent, but his fellow was big and strong and covetous with greed, not afraid of the monster's huge fangs. At the sight of Dwarf Long Noses's upright instrument, Grandpa, Reginald and Alfie disappeared immediately.

Robert's battering ram got to work, Julia's tears dried up in the rising intoxication, the intoxication in the arms of the dwarf Nose. She experienced for the first time what she had denied herself for weeks and had only fantasized about in secret minutes. Finally, in the height of ecstasy, she finally looked into Alfie's eyes, small laugh lines around his kind eyes, his lips pursed for a kiss. She wanted to call out his name, but all she could manage was a pained croak, her whole body twitching and shaking in ecstasy.

Julia waved her hand, she had had enough after this first violent chapter, Rocky's battering ram had raged in the mouth of the Great Serpent like a drunken berserk. Julia had given up, trembling, preferring to think about Alfie as she watched Yvonne demand everything from the dwarf. Everything. Chapter by chapter. And I would be lying if I said that Yvonne didn't enjoy Rocky and the ballads from Dwarf Long Nose.

In the evening they rolled home. Yvonne held onto the handles of the Ferrari as if she were pushing it. No, she held on because her knees were weak as pudding. "I'm going to give up Massimo today. We'll come back to see Robert, to see Dwarf Nose, tomorrow?" Julia nodded absently, "Whatever you want, little one," she said to Yvonne.

She had to think about something depressing. Rocky hadn't been able to control his pens. Julia had asked, with a big lump in her throat: "Mom?" He nodded affirmatively, not interrupting his panting lecture. It made Julia very sad, but that was the way it was. After her wild but cathartic chapter, exhausted and sad, she left all the reading work to Yvonne; she suddenly didn't feel like it anymore. Rocky had done it to Mom.

Julia cried with happiness when she came home from the doctor. She was carrying Alfie's child under her heart. She looked up gratefully at the cloudy November sky. "Zeus, you rascal, you had a hand in it again!" She didn't tell anyone that she was pregnant. At first, with little enthusiasm, she went alongside Yvonne to Robert, who had taken a fancy to Yvonne. Absolutely sure.

But Rocky always wanted to first ram his battering ramrod into the mouth of the Great Serpent, into the shy, reserved Julia, and only then did he turn his attention to the insatiable Yvonne. He quickly found the spot that made the silent Julia pant, gasp and tremble. Robert had matured by years and he confessed to Julia that it was Mama who had finally stripped him of his childhood. Smiling, of her own will and so full of love.

Julia was no longer angry with him, he was just the dwarf Nose, and everyone knew what kind of guy the Dwarf was. Robert scratched the back of his head. "And Anni now has to listen to Dwarf Nose's ballad every morning in the bath water. It was no different for her. She saw how I did it to my mother. And Anni is really greedy, she doesn't say any bigoted nonsense anymore. Yes, I know, the dynamite. But I pay close attention to what she finds out and what she definitely doesn't." Julia smiled weakly; it no longer seemed so strange to her to listen to the ballad of the dwarf nose. One or two chapters, yes, maybe three.

Yvonne was blown away. "From Alfie? Oh my God, how wonderful, a child of love, the purest love I've ever seen!" Julia strictly refused to be treated like a raw egg. Yvonne was only supposed to be her sexual support when they went to the Dwarf Long Noses together again and again. Yvonne was supposed to hold her and love her when Rocky really got into it and when the surf crashed violently against the rocks and made her tremble with fear and trepidation. Yvonne should hold her there and touch the shy and timid Julia with a magical finger, yes, she should do that, please. But she should keep the pregnancy to herself, Robert would eventually notice that she had a baby bump.

Julia threw herself into her doctoral thesis with all her might. She wanted to have it finished and submitted by the end of the semester. Maybe she would go to her doctorate while still heavily pregnant, which made her smile. She didn't forget about her birds; she drove the Ferrari to the pond every lunchtime. She explained to the birds that their dear Alfie, her bald man, had now traveled far away, a whole 900 years away. The birds nodded wisely, of course, because Julia had brought back tasty grains that could only be picked with a wise nod of the head. The mallard girls chatted wildly when she whispered to them her secret that she would also be getting a chick from Alfie in about nine months.

The doctoral thesis went well. The sentences flowed from the keyboard because she had now also become a knowledgeable person. She knew exactly what it was like to be impregnated by a god or a time traveler. Yvonne caught her up from her desk and energetically took her to the dwarf. Yvonne meticulously insisted that Dwarf Nose looked after Julia well and adequately, chapter by chapter, because later, there was only children crying after midnight, giving breasts and changing diapers.

Yvonne shook with horror, the baby would eat up Julia's free time and would no longer give the dwarf Nose a chance to read to her. Julia had smiled, what a nonsense! There would be no unnecessary interruption. In any case, Yvonne was not allowed to miss any of Robert's lectures and she wanted to actively participate again as soon as possible and not just watch passively. It will probably be possible to take the little one with you in the crib. Rocky's mom, who was hardly ever seen, had once held her hands with tears in the corners of her eyes: Julia heard how happy Rocky's mom was that he now had solid, intimate girlfriends, even two very beautiful girls. So far he had only imposed his will on helpless disabled girls, on disabled girls who, bewildered and crying, surrendered to his urging. Rocky's mom cried with joy, her poor boy finally seemed to be in good hands.

Julia visibly blossomed like a flower, the now daily ballads of the dwarf Nose made her cheeks turn a fine pink, she liked to laugh again and happily patted Yvonne's ass cheek with the palm of her hand when she couldn't stop finishing the last chapter. She often wrote late into the night because her escapades with Yvonne ate up the hours like hungry wolves. But she was no longer consistently sad, even though she missed Alfie very much. He would definitely have a lot on his mind, because he had described to her how he and the director wanted to redesign the entire department. She placed her hand on her little tummy, on the little miracle that was growing inside her. Rocky had looked embarrassed at first, but she reassured him that the father was her Alfie, her beloved husband, who had flown to America.

It was the first time that Yvonne didn't go upstairs when the two of them came home from Robert's lectures, worn out and exhausted. Yvonne really wanted to go to the supermarket. Julia immediately realized that someone had been there and clutched the can of pepper spray. It smelled strongly of Arabia coffee, and the table was covered with a dark blue cloth that certainly didn't come from her household. She cautiously rolled closer, but there was no one there except her.

She drove the Ferrari to the table. There was a small and a larger case, like the ones jewelers use. Curious, she opened the smaller case — a beautiful gold signet ring. She held her breath as she opened the larger one.

It was stunning. A piece of jewelry, a necklace, exquisitely shaped, garlands of pure gold and small precious stones. She didn't know much about jewelry, but it looked very elegant and very expensive. Then there were two gold bangles decorated with blue and white enamel. And a pair of earrings, gold and precious stones, flashing and sparkling. She clutched her heart, she had a premonition. When she put the necklace back, the case slipped a few millimeters and she discovered the letter hidden underneath. Six pages on heavy parchment, densely written with dark blue glittering ink, in a very beautiful cursive handwriting that can only be written with a flat steel nib. She turned on the reading light and put on her glasses. She knew who the letter was from. She held it to her chest for a few moments, then read:

Dear Julia,
my beloved wife!

I arrived safely and started work straight away, even though I was showered with honors, adulation and champagne.

I was in wonderland when I found out you were pregnant with little Alfred. I danced in the office, probably the most awkward Hilly-Billy dance you can imagine. I'm beside myself with joy, you can't imagine it. You only know me as a level-headed and serious Parsifal in search of the Holy Grail. But I can also do something different, I spontaneously hugged the surprised director and kissed her from head to toe when she told me the good news. I rashly tore open her blouse and kissed her breasts and her teats like a foolish idiot! She smiled and tolerated my lips on her teats for long minutes until I came back to my senses. She buttoned her blouse again with a smile and grinned crookedly, because she had never experienced such overwhelming joy at the good news she had announced to me.

We both knew that it would cause a tiny rift in the space/time continuum, but not a catastrophic one, since we are all still there unchanged. Of course, no one other than her is allowed to know about it, especially not the rigid committee, as you can probably imagine. Nevertheless, I will invite Waltraud and Heinrich to a festive dinner and tell them in person about you too. I will show them pictures of you (not the nude photos and our naughty videos of course) and tell them how much I love you. That I took you as my wife and made you the mother of their little brother, 900 years ago.

The board has only allowed me to see you from a distance every few weeks, in the visigraph, a kind of telescope through time. However, I plan to see you and Alfred from afar every day, that will be fine. I see how much Yvonne cares about your well-being and that you go to Dwarf Robert's lectures together. Knowing that the committee will perhaps read these lines one day in the future, I say to you: I am delighted with all my heart that you have overcome your initial shyness and are now hanging on Robert's lips, just like Yvonne, when he reads you the ballad of the dwarf nose, chapter by chapter, the little rogue with the big nose... I was afraid that you would completely isolate yourself and close yourself off to the worldly things. No, I wish you and Yvonne many more enjoyable lectures with Robert.

I suspect you stopped taking the pill in full consciousness as the farewell approached. I didn't know it, but my joy is even greater now. And now I have to reveal one last secret to you, although it is very embarrassing for me. My mom showed me the method by which she could physically unite with dad, but only very rarely and with a pounding heart. A virus-killing ointment, a virus-killing intimate spray and a standard condom. For her and Dad, this only happened at all holy times, because the method is not foolproof.

Mom hasn't had a virus in her womb her whole life. Maybe the virus didn't like her hormone mix, because it wasn't in the right composition until after puberty. Today I sometimes think that Mom's womb was still in puberty, letting the devil rage in her pubescent womb. Still, she tested herself every month, sent my sisters for testing every 10 days, three times a month. She was afraid the twins would infect and kill me. She smiled quietly when my sisters and I made a fuss in the girls' bedroom. That was okay, we children should explore our sexuality, explore everything.

As they grew up and housed dashing junkers, Mama took her share when she could. Mama immediately threw the little machine away and waved the Junker in; the living thing was always better than the stupid pestle. I smiled at how diligently Mom forced her daughters' playmates into breathtaking service; oh yes, thank God she wasn't a food eater or a pale prayer sister. It wasn't until the end of my twin sisters' puberty, around the age of 17, that the virus was discovered and since then I've never been in the girls' bedroom again.

Mom looked at me with that certain look when I was old enough and asked if I would please step in for the pestle? She pushed the little machine aside, when the little tongue had kindled her fire and brought her to the edge of the cliff, then I stood in for the pestle, because I wanted it so badly myself. She loved to jump from peak to peak, straight towards the highest peak, from which she could then throw herself with hurrah, down into the tender arms of her son. For years — even as curator and Hilda's husband — I stepped in when the tipping point had been reached well and she was just one step away from liberating ecstasy.

She died in my arms, her weak heart breaking in the moment of supreme pleasure and in the ecstasy of her fifth and highest peak of this special evening. I was 28, deeply affected and resolved never to make physical love again — never again would a girl or woman die in my arms, never again would I want to look into fading and breaking eyes. I never told you that, it was just too embarrassing and too painful at the same time. Maybe you understand that. But what I'm getting at is that my mom did it completely right and steered me in the right direction. Hug our Alfred lovingly, motherly and undaunted. This is my wish, nothing more. It will be both a lesson and a holy trembling for him.

The board has allowed me to enter your home chained to a sheriff and deposit my gifts in person, but only if you are not present. The committee distrusts me and they are happy to do so. I know they would never allow me to see you in the flesh again. If they knew exactly what was going on with both of us, they would put me in chains, I had broken so many rules. I'm still very upset about my overtime, my darling, they originally only gave me 360 days. But I wouldn't want to miss any of the 582 days with you, not a single one.

I designed the jewelry myself and had it made by a very skilled goldsmith. But the special thing is that all of them are made of Swedish steel at their core, the legendary dragon steel, which was used in ancient times to make swords. And then the goldsmith covered everything with high-quality gold. The coat of arms on the signet ring is supposedly the coat of arms of those von dem Steine, who were reliable knights and robber barons in the service of the Hanoverian rule as early as the 13th century.

I wanted to signal to you that my love for you is as strong as the strongest steel and made of gold, like your hair above and below. And then I left another surprise where we used to keep the reserve packs of Arabia coffee. The sheriff didn't notice because we drank good coffee to distract us and I escaped the good man for an hour in a time rift.

In the thick leather pouch you will find a lot of gold coins, many Greek drachmas and some Roman aureus and solidus coins. They're really real, but they're actually just replicas that are really real. You get my point? Pretend you inherited them from your grandpa, just say he was a big coin collector, your grandpa. Sell them, or better yet, auction them off piece by piece on the Internet, because they are worth a fortune if you don't carelessly sell them in bulk. This will be my contribution to the education and studies of Alfred. Of course it can't replace the absent father, but it can perhaps pay for a profound education. You will know when he is old and mature enough to tell him about his father.

Without you I will miss physical love. I can assure you, I'll probably take Mom's recipe to heart and I'll definitely be poaching through the entire city of 19 million, from flower to flower, to find someone. Someone in whose eyes I recognize you. Maybe I'll even find a direct descendant of yours, my heart. And I wanted to honestly confess that to you, because I was awakened by you and I simply can't and don't want to do without the physical anymore.

Waltraud had himself tested like every month and the virus was detected for the first time. She and Heinrich immediately moved into separate bedrooms because she doesn't want to kill her brother. When I heard that from Waltraud, a weight was lifted from my heart, because now the two of them are showing more common sense and responsibility than before. Hilda and I let them both have their way; it was their childish and adolescent sexuality and not ours. It was and is real love that connects the two, and not just sexual greed or dominance.

Otherwise everything has stayed the same, I still don't have a dog or a parrot. Well, maybe a few ladies who will try it with me, although I've already become a very strange codger, a budding lust newt, to be honest. Because I demand pleasure, physicality and ecstasies etc., hard and without scruples. Of course I stick strictly to mom's recipe, I don't want to let the virus kill me, I promise!

Greetings to the dwarf Nase and especially to Yvonne. Make up whatever it takes why I'm still in the States and not showing up. A fatal car accident, maybe a plane crash?

When I close my eyes, I see you. You and sometimes Yvonne. But you were always my wife, my only, my true wife, but she was just a girl with whom we both had a lot of joy and whom we shared. Maybe you were a girl at the beginning, but day by day you became more and more my wife, the one I adored, the one I will always adore. The muse who kissed me awake after my morning nap and rolled with me to the pond.

I see you pulling your negligee over your head and putting it away, there should be nothing between our bodies but air and love.

I see you as you loosen your hairband, as your hair slides down to your shoulders like dark gold and your shining eyes announce to me the paradise of your love.

I see with flying breath how you let your snow-white thighs slide slightly apart, unfolding the proclaimed paradise.

I see you closing your eyes and smiling because you're looking forward to me like a snow queen.

I see you, Julia.

I see you.

You.

yours forever and ever
Alfie