“I am so happy⁠ ⁠… so happy! I am so full of⁠ ⁠… you understand, I am⁠ ⁠… I walk and I hear nothing around me.⁠ ⁠… And all the while I listen within, within me.⁠ ⁠…”

I was silent. Something foreign was shadowing my face and I was unable to rid myself of it. Suddenly, all shining, light blue, she caught my hand; I felt her lips upon it.⁠ ⁠… It was for the first time in my life.⁠ ⁠… It was some ancient caress as yet unknown to me.⁠ ⁠… And I was so ashamed and it pained me so much that I swiftly, I think even roughly, pulled my hand away.

“Listen, you are crazy, it seems.⁠ ⁠… And anyway you⁠ ⁠… what are you happy about? Is it possible that you forget what is ahead of you? If not now, then within a month or two.⁠ ⁠…”