”“Nothing at all in that department?”“Nichts, rien, nada.”“Well knowing your insatiable appetite, that’s a toughie.”“Tell me about i...,” then Carlotta added with a smirk: “But I’m allowed to butter my muffin.”“So how big is this ‘new realm’?”“You’ll find out soon enough,” was the opaque reply.“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll have an early night. I’m bushed from the journey.”“Don’t worry, didums – you’ll certainly be seeing me again!” The chancel lamp flickered and now the choir stall was empty,. I satfor a few minutes to see what would transpire but as the guy made noattempt to move I opened my door and went and stood looking out towardsthe rolling hills which during the day provided lovely views but in thepitch dark all that could be seen were the lights of the City in thedistance. The cool air was whistling up my skirt and within a couple ofminutes I was joined by the guy from the Mercedes and after a briefconversation he invited me to join him in his car. I was still on a highafter. "Gott sei Dank", murmelte sie, und schwang sich auf einen Viererplatz. Ihr gegenüber saß ein nett dreinschauender älterer Herr. "Na, noch geschafft? Wo müssen Sie denn so dringend hin, wenn ich fragen darf?" Zu einem Lehrgang", antwortete Jane. "Ein Vorschlag vom Chef. Er hat versprochen, es sei mit höheren Chancen auf Beförderungen verbunden, das lohnt sich für mich"."Haben Sie etwa verschlafen?", kicherte er, und Jane schüttelte den Kopf. "In der Uhrzeit vertan. Man kennt es, nicht wahr?"Er. "Do you want to check something out before we go?" He and Evan both hada couple of books tucked under their arms."N-no, that can wait... let's go."We walked downstairs and they tried to check out their books. I say"tried," because when they pulled their wallets out of their pockets,they found that their library cards -- and money, student IDs, andlicenses -- were all garbled; none of the text was in English or eventhe Latin alphabet, and the pictures on the money were *weird*. Ithought about.