The dog obeyed him once again. It devoted itself completely to the task at hand and caught the insect in one quick, precise gulp, chewing it carefully to kill it, and then went back into the water and dropped the insect on the stone, just next to Franck’s hand. Astounded by this gesture, Franck thanked the dog, as he would thank any human who had done him a favour. But the dog looked him in the eye as if wanting to tell him something; it even let out a few little yaps that sounded almost like speech. Franck picked up the insect, briefly wondering if he should pretend to eat it. Maybe the dog, transformed by its hunting instinct, only wanted to satisfy the demands of a master and retrieve game for him; in its mind, every animal was prey. Franck held the hornet in the palm of his hand; the dog was staring at him expectantly. Franck decided to put the hornet in his shorts pocket in an attempt to please the dog, but then it started barking, and the sound bounced back under the stone cupola and rang out in an ear-splitting echo. Franck took the hornet out of his pocket and made a show of putting it in his mouth, before pretending to eagerly chew it. At this, the dog was visibly satisfied, and it eased off and went back outside. Franck was just as relieved as he was overwhelmed, as enchanted as he was frightened. He realised two things. One, you could fool this dog – as observant as it was, the animal still had some gullibility that you could take advantage of. But secondly and more importantly, he realised that the dog expected something from him, and whatever it was, it had nothing to do with playing together.

May 1915

May 1915