I sigh deep down inside and lay my head on my front paws. While the voices of Caroline and Wagner merge into a vague background noise, I think about how I can nail this thing with Daniel. Maybe I could somehow lure the two of them into some kind of trap so that they’re finally alone. Then the rest would fall into place. But how?

I desperately need to talk things over with Mr Beck again. Cats are famous for being master strategists, and he is sure to have an idea about how to do this. It’s truly tragic – just recently, the two of them had become so close! If Nina hadn’t shown up, they could be an established couple by now. But since that evening, Daniel and Caroline have barely seen each other, apart from brief encounters in the workshop, and there were almost always customers around. Obviously, nothing is going to come of that. If there’s one thing I’ve learned by now, even without any instruction from Mr Beck, it’s that when it comes to finding mates, people seem to be a really shy species. In any case, this tingle of excitement between Daniel and Caroline vanishes the second other people come along. I’ve seen the same thing happen in the park: the couples who are kissing usually stand off to the side or sit on a bench where no one else is sitting. People like to kiss in cars, but almost never in the supermarket. In the breakfast café where Caroline and Nina often get together and where every last seat is always taken, there’s nothing happening in the way of smooching couples. Maybe a little kiss here or there, but definitely nothing on the scale of the real mating Beck and I observed back then with Thomas and the other woman. We dogs are markedly more assertive in that arena. A male dachshund who discovers his sweetheart on the other side of the street would certainly not be put off by a few pedestrians going by. It’s sort of strange. After all, humans don’t exactly tend to be shy in general.

Meanwhile, sure enough, Caroline and Wagner have arrived at the topic of work. I’m telling you: little by little, I’m getting a feel for these two-legged creatures. Wagner, in any case, is now wearing out Caroline with an extremely detailed description of his career.

‘And then I knew that I’d rather become a vet, so I switched over from human medicine to veterinary medicine, although I had actually sworn to myself never to do the same thing as my father. And now I’ve even taken over his practice and live in the same house, just as he once did. At the beginning, it was definitely a strange feeling, but now I can say that it was the best decision of my life. My profession makes me happy.’