It was funny, but that morning I didn't feel depressed even though the dream had been so sad. The sun, the long sleep after all my exertions, and the homey Sunday mood had a positive influence on my state of mind. But things were going to get even better.
Suddenly a voice outside summoned me, a voice that the venerable author of One Thousand and One Nights would have summed up as "sweet." In a way I cannot explain; it differed from the many other female voices I had heard in my life. Something mysterious, dark, and exotic was concealed in it, as well as that certain something you could hardly resist. She sang her song so melodiously and so passionately that I nearly fainted with pleasure. Slowly I rose, curved my back, and flehmed fervently. Full of encoded messages of love, her scent brought my blood to a boil and gave back to me the feeling for physical things I thought I had lost. I felt my entire ego melt like wax in a furnace, and now I was animated by only one desire—to unite myself with this scent. The intense urge to answer with my own song finally became uncontrollable.
I jumped down from snoring Gustav's heaving belly, ran to the bathroom, and leaped up on the windowsill.
It was an encounter with a queen! It was a vision of Cleopatra! She rolled, turned, and rubbed herself with divine suppleness on the terrace floor, all the while singing her alluring, irresistible song. At first I thought I had never seen a specimen of her breed before, but then I remembered the one who had appeared briefly at that rear window when Bluebeard had taken me to see Deep Purple's corpse. I hadn't been able to assign him to any race I knew either, and had been more than a little surprised. Without a doubt, the coquette who was offering herself so seductively on my territory also came from this unknown family.
Her sand-colored coat, which fused into bright beige on her belly, reflected the sunlight so much that you might have thought that she was wearing a robe of gold. But what was most bewitching were her eyes: huge, radiantly yellow, hypnotizing gems befitting only a lady of rank. They were all the more striking because her head was small, and her figure somewhat thickset. She whipped her bushy tail from side to side continually, revealing her mysteries, as if her entreaties for love had not sufficed to drive me crazy. But I was already ablaze, and had long ago become her submissive slave.
Before I realized it, a hoarse cry escaped from my throat and merged with her bewitching song. To make my presence felt, I dropped to the balcony and gave the world a considerable dose of my environmentally safe, all-purpose scent. All of these odors mixed in the air, creating the magical atmosphere that dazed and intoxicated us.
She twisted and turned even more wildly and looked like she could hardly wait for it. Nevertheless, caution was advised. Although her behavior raised no doubt about her desire, it would be erroneous to assume automatically that she had happened to choose me of all candidates for fun and games. On the contrary, she had probably picked out this place as a meeting point for all her neighborhood admirers. So I had to hurry, for as far as this sphere of life was concerned, the males of my race possessed early warning radar systems. Of course, I had a certain advantage from the start, because competitors from neighboring territories would have inhibitions about penetrating my turf, but resisting a temptation as sweet and challenging as she would no doubt be too much for them, and in the end, they could well risk everything.
In order to score a quick success, I made use of a tried-and-true trick. She looked away briefly, and then I dove from the balcony to the terrace and stood there petrified. She noticed that, as if by magic, I had gotten a little closer to her, and spit. But at the same time she rolled over again lewdly, looking all the while in another direction. I seized the chance to narrow the distance between us a bit. As soon she turned around toward me, I once more stood rooted to the spot, looking around at my surroundings like a fool. I knew she would only attack me when she saw me actually approaching her. A motionless body gave her no immediate reason to attack. Love, for my kind, is a very complicated matter, though, to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Things went on like that, in stop-and-go tempo, for quite some time, until finally I was standing right behind her and gave a meek, low-voiced trill. She hissed and continued to act aggressively, but the evidence was all too clear that in reality she wanted to be sniffed at. All the same, she snarled, attacking me with extended claws. I calmly let her go on like this until she was out of breath, and then, at last, she sent out the signal that was my salvation. I took a quick look around. No competitors anywhere.
And then, right in front of me, she stretched provocatively, shuffled nervously on her front paws, and cried out. I circled her once, sniffed at her body, flehmed voluptuously, and mounted her. At once she swept aside her tail to present me her treasure. Like lightning, I seized the nape of her neck with
