The squirrel who had been hiding in some unknown nook bounced up on the dashboard in response to the question. When Susso tried to pick it up, it moved out of reach and settled down to gaze out at the landscape rushing past. Then she cupped her hand under her chin and spat into it. She spat several times and then held her hand out and waited. Eventually, the squirrel went over to it. It placed its odd little fingers on her thumb and sniffed the white foam. When it was all gone, she topped it up with new saliva.

‘He likes spit,’ she said quietly.

Diana stared at the road and heard Susso whispering.

‘Yes, it’s tasty. Yes, so tasty.’

I was watching TV when Diana called…

I was watching TV when Diana called, something political. I took my time picking the phone up off the coffee table and then even longer to answer it and when I did, I knew I sounded anxious. My ear filled with the sound of fast driving.

‘We’re on our way home,’ she said.

‘You are?’ I said. What I actually wanted to know was who she meant by we and in the next moment, I found out: she was going to drive Susso to the hospital. That made me both relieved and concerned.

‘What happened to her?’

‘I don’t think it’s too bad, but I want her admitted. She’s running a temperature and is dehydrated and I think she’s been beaten up pretty badly. So I’m taking her over there, better safe than sorry.’

Roland had been sitting in the kitchen with a beer in his hand, reading about everything that had happened and was going to happen in the World Cup on his laptop; now he was standing in the doorway, holding his glasses, looking at me.

‘They’re on their way home,’ I said and put the phone down on the table. ‘They’re going to the hospital but it’s nothing serious.’

‘So it’s good news.’

‘But it never ends. This is never going to end. Until it really ends. For real. Like this.’ I picked up the remote and turned the TV off, cutting someone off mid-sentence.

‘One thing at a time,’ Roland said. He had walked over to the window and was peering out at the street. ‘She’s home now and that’s cause for cheer.’

‘Cheer?’

‘Maybe things will get better now.’

‘Or they could get worse.’

He stood with his hands in his shorts pockets. His skinny little legs were deathly white and only marginally hairier than mine.

‘We have to hope for the best.’

‘Sure, great idea.’

‘Gudrun.’

‘I’m so sick of it all,’ I sobbed. ‘Please understand that. I can’t take much more. I can’t take it.’

‘But she’s bringing Susso back. That means they let her go.’