We sit there for a while and look at each other through the balcony door. Eventually, I get a good idea. I take a quick look around the room, and, sure enough, in the corner I see the chair that Caroline puts her clothes on at night when she goes to bed. It is pretty massive and also has a high back, which means that if I use it as a ladder, it might even work. I trot over to the chair and try to push it to the balcony door. Wow, it’s heavy!

‘Can you manage, or should I come in?’

‘You’d better stay where you are. Either I’ll get it there on my own, or we’ll forget about our little outing.’

I lean all my weight against the chair, and eventually it moves a tiny bit. Then I lean against the left leg and it goes a bit further. Then I try the right one again, then go back to the left one – and bit by bit, I use my chest to push the chair through the room. It’s really hard work, but eventually it’s done. The chair is now standing right in front of the balcony door opening.

I hop onto the seat. Yup. From up here, things look quite promising. I may almost be able to fit through.

‘Come on! What are you waiting for?’ Beck eggs me on.

‘Keep your cool! I have to concentrate.’

It won’t work without a little jump; after all, I don’t want to get stuck. But in order to jump, I need a bit of a running start, and that is impossible on the chair. Damn, I really need to be just a fraction higher on the chair. If I were, it would be so much easier.

‘Hercules, see whether you can get to the handle with your muzzle. Maybe you can open the door all the way if you can grab the handle with your teeth. Then all you have to do is pull it down.’

What does he mean by all you have to do? Are we in the circus? Little dachshunds opening closed doors clearly falls into the category of stunts.

‘Just try it! It can’t be all that hard!’

That’s easy for him to say, sitting over there on his behind. On the other hand, maybe the idea isn’t so bad after all. In any case, it’s better than getting stuck in the door. So I sit up, get a good grip on the door handle, latch on, then drop back on the seat. With a jerk, the handle moves down – and the door swings open! Sensational! I, Carl-Leopold von Eschersbach, have just opened a balcony door!

However, my euphoria quickly fades. Two seconds later, I’m standing next to Mr Beck on the balcony, but I now realize that we didn’t think through our wonderful plan. God only knows how I’m going to get down from here!

chapter nineteen

I am a hero, a superman, a superdachshund!