Alliances were made and broken quickly, but the only one who could leave the lakeshore was the Siberian tiger. In spite of the conditions we find ourselves in, I want us to maintain a civilized attitude… Nor a raft to retreat to the middle of the lake. I stepped lightly over the lion, grabbed the woman by the hand and pulled her forward, then asked:
“Will you tell me what the hell is going on?”
“I’ll tell you, but let’s take a few more steps… My attempt to close my eyes and treat the whole thing as a natural extension of last night’s drunken bender only drew another foot into my ribs. Before opening my eyes wide, I wondered how drunk I could have been last night to climb into bed with such a woman. “Was there an announcement or something?”
“Not exactly an announcement,” she made, confused, “but I had just woken up when I suddenly felt like this, like a kind of buzzing in my head.
