"Edmond has become gripped by the idea that it was no accident, but suicide." "Caused by despair." "Or as a punishment." "His wife and his daughter lost their lives in a car crash." "Edmond had argued with Monika about separation." "They had traded" "Edmond always closes his eyes when he thinks about it." "No other vehicle was involved, the motorway was almost empty." "And yet the car sped through a barrier and plunged into the gorge." "His wife and Kiki, his daughter, were almost unrecognisable." "Edmond continues to run his business." "But as evening settles in," "He rarely goes home anymore ..." "What's there for him?" "No one is waiting for him, no child will jump into his arms" "In old age, when one has lived his life, he is entitled to befriend death in silence." "He doesn't need people anymore," "He has only need of silence." "It's not appropriate to visit to address him," "Rather, it is fitting as if it were the house of no one." "Those are the words" "Meng Xie or Meng Xiao." "You know, we're both at an age to occupy ourselves with death," "Or ... is it too soon for you?" "If you think of the life" "What life?" "Yes, I understand." "How long have the two of them" "How long?" "I can't remember." "Your child ... she was always" "I once wanted to stroke her head ... and she bit me in the hand." "You know, there's a house ... a 'maison'." "A kind of meditational ..." "You should go there sometime." "But why?" "Just try it." "It would do you good." "No wish, no words" "Farewell, then!" "Torn from you, alone, forsaken, no death could be more bitter." "She bit him in the hand." "Yes, that was your Kiki!" "And please don't play like sticking your finger" "Come along!" "And please don't try to wake the girl," "Whatever you do," "And when she awakes she will not even who was sleeping beside her." "So you needn't" "What time is it?" "Then it's time." "tend to go to bed early." "So, if you would care to ..." "She is a very pretty girl, to receive only guests" "What is it?" "There are two sleeping pills" "Do you serve drinks?" "No, we do not serve" "Not even a nightcap?" "So the girl is lying in that room?" "She's sound asleep" "Would you prefer to disrobe here," "No, thanks." "I'll undress myself." "Here ..." "Take this." "I wish you a pleasant sleep." "Good night." "Toads ..." "Black dogs and drowned corpses ..." "That's what the night" "How does it go, that poem by ..." "He was a young poet, a Romantic." "He died at a young age." "The little one ..." "The woman's skin is probably leaden and drab." "Dark-ringed eyes, her face" "Or she is fat and bloated?" "Perhaps she snores ... and has repugnant blue-flecked gums." "You're not really asleep." "You're awake, aren't you?" "Well?" "My old friend Kogi" "He said ..." "It seems to me that I gave" "But there are people there in such a way" "I would never have believed" "I never thought" "And now I'm here." "I scarcely dare to breathe." "Kogi said ..." "I only feel really alive beside a sleeping young woman." "Maybe there are old men, men like Kogi," "who caress such a young woman, touch her all over, without conscience." "It seems to me that I gave up women as women years ago." "But then, I am not as old as Kogi." "Not nearly so old." "You smell of milk." "It is the milky scent of a child" "That's impossible." "If you had a child," "And milk would seep from your nipples." "I'd be able to taste it." "No, you are too young." "You don't have a child yet." "But it is your scent ..." "This scent, it ..." "What does this scent remind me of?" "Of my mother." "Yes, perhaps." "But can one still remember that ... after more than 60 years?" "Can you not be awoken at all?" "To sleep   doesn't mean to sleep for ever." "Neither for her, nor for me." "Turn over, towards me." "Are you dreaming?" "Say something!" "Two weeks later" "I paid you a visit two weeks ago." "May I come again this evening?" "Now?" "If you leave now," "At around ... nine o'clock." "No, that's too early." "I'm sorry." "The girl hasn't arrived yet," "I could have her asleep by eleven." "I shall expect you at that time." "Very well, I shall come then." "See you tomorrow." "The meeting is at 11." "Mr Gold is waiting downstairs." "Thank you, Gold." "I find it's turned rather cold." "The girl tonight is more experienced" "What?" "Yes, but ..." "She is just as pretty," "What?" "A different girl?" "Yes, tonight's girl ..." "Well ..." "I'm not so ..." "But you're not doing anything" "Are you?" "Or are you perhaps" "Was I perhaps mistaken about you?" "Well, whatever you consider excessive," "But since you" "I shall send her to sleep" "But I'm sure you'll say" "You say she's more experienced?" "What does that mean?" "She just sleeps!" "Ah, what do you know?" "Here, undress yourself now." "And sleep well." "More experienced ..." "Experienced ..." "Does that mean better?" "I want to look into your eyes." "Blue." "You remind me of someone." "But of whom?" "You can't deceive me." "You're still virginal." "What are you doing here?" "Why?" "Oh well ..." "In the end, she's just a prostitute." "A little whore." "But ... so young." "Mama!" "I only did it ..." "What are you doing?" "I don't want to!" "What am I doing to you, then?" "Tell me, child." "I only ran away because ..." "Is it over," "Say something!" "No!" "When an old man it is lamentation, nothing more." "Pah, lamentation!" "Arousal!" "We make love ..." "She brushes the tousled hair with her hands so wonderful!" "Good morning!" "Are you awake already?" "Yes, I'm up." "I'm just dressing." "You must get up now, sir!" "So, how was it?" "She's a lovely girl, don't you agree?" "Yes, a lovely girl." "That's true." "And when will she wake up?" "Can I wait until she wakes?" "We don't even allow our" "I like her so much that I ..." "It's better not to develop any" "You spent the night with her;" "She has no idea that you slept" "Yes ..." "I understand." "But what if I were to" "What?" "You'd want to talk to her?" "Please do not do that." "It is absolutely against the law." "A crime?" "Against the laws of this establishment?" "I ask you not to entertain such ideas." "a sleeping girl." "Madame, please tell me ..." "You ..." "You make the laws?" "Would you please leave?" "He is not a man" "No, he's a beaten, frightened man." "Is he perhaps afraid of approaching of not having reciprocated the" "What is driving him?" "How's your family and the children," "Everything's fine, boss." "Maybe I'm the problem." "My wife says," "Yes, you! "There are better," "Kill him, take his money!"" ""I'll kill him." "And what then?"" "Why should I kill?" "Mr Gold, do you need money?" "Ah, boss ..." "Women!" "Fine." "There was once a man who followed one of these girls," "He went after her, and she became that he grabbed for her," "She dragged him" "The next day, entangled together like lovers" "When I started here," "It's as if he lives in a garden" "No bird ventures to fly in." "Four days later" "Thank you, Gold." "Goodbye." "No, you can go." "See you tomorrow." "Here I am." "May I help you?" "I want ..." "I think you have the wrong house." "Madame!" "... be she a housewife, he can get his leg over with" "Look how the trash creeps this stinking city, these dissolute children." "But the Lord's hand will come," "It will point the way to the light." "You're here already, sir?" "Be so kind and make me a cup of tea." "But of course." "You're always welcome." "No, today's not possible." "No, tomorrow neither." "She wouldn't receive me ..." "She wouldn't let me in." "What does it mean?" "I called her today." ""It's not possible today," she said." ""No, tomorrow neither."" "Maybe she has a plan." "What do we know about women?" "Maybe she doesn't like" "This woman has a past, for certain." "You recommended it yourself!" "But things change." "Believe me." "One week later" "Tonight's girl is a trainee." "It's possible you won't like her." "A different girl?" "Since you were already leaving when" "If you require a specific girl," "I understand." "She's new." "A young thing." "She wanted someone to go with her." "What, two at once?" "Well ... it wouldn't be" "You think so?" "Tut-tut!" "It doesn't matter." "She's lying there like a dead," "Of course not." "She's not used to it yet." "I know that." "Why did you turn me away last week?" "Why did you humiliate me like that?" "Furthermore, I knew you'd come back." "Who is this curious madame?" "I sometimes think" "Perhaps my own ..." "Your tea." "Don't you want any?" "No, thank you." "What are you waiting for?" "You may begin." "Soon." "When you've left." "You think I'd want to watch?" "Can you help me into my coat?" "Thank you." "I'll be going, then." "Have a pleasant night." "Do you know when you'll come again?" "Wouldn't it be better if I left?" "Am I not like all the other to suck new youth" "To enjoy women who'd never even glance at them" "Am I already such a wretch?" "My daughter" "What do they give you?" "What?" "Madame!" "Are you still here?" "Nothing is more beautiful than" "No woman, no matter how beautiful," "The sleeping face of a girl looks beautiful" "To sleep like the dead." "Like the dead ..." "If I were to squeeze now, you wouldn't even notice." "How strange that such a young girl," "one still learning should remind me so much of a woman." "Where was it ..." "In Hamburg, yes." "We were in a hotel, you know?" "And when she awoke in the morning, she had slept like the dead." "I told her that she'd seemed" "Then she understood." "And on that morning at dawn, we re-lived the entire night." "Then she told me and quickly got dressed." "Sleep is something that is terrifying ..." "like death." "Should I spare a thought for it, or simply brush aside" "Sir?" "Sir!" "Wake up!" "It's time!" "Wake up!" "You'll catch a cold." "Didn't you hear me calling last night?" "I'd like to be given the sleeping" "That is strictly forbidden," "It's dangerous for older people." "Even if I didn't wake up again," "It's only your third visit here, and already you're saying" "What are the limits of permitted" "You old lecher!" "What are you thinking about?" "It's you?" "I'm sorry," "Mr Kogmann is not here." "Yes, but he cannot receive you." "Tell Kogi ..." "Mr Kogmann ..." "Be careful." "Why did she say that I should be careful?" "And why was she crying?" "Be quiet, Gold." "Green!" "Slowly now." "Shall I help you?" "I'm not so old" "I just wanted to help you." "half-crippled and senile idiots, who wouldn't make it up the stairs" "You shouldn't ask me" "It must be dangerous for old men" "What do you do" "Should that happen ... then the guest would" "Don't get cynical now." "so easily, am I right?" "You always call so suddenly." "Did you not like any of the girls?" "I mean it quite sincerely." "Honestly." "If that's the case, to let me know which of the girls" "You made it clear if a guest becomes too fixated" "So?" "And what if I were the man and I came to this establishment?" "What are your usual guests like?" "who long to be with women again." "You know more than I do." "Then tell me, what is the most" "There is no evil here." "No evil?" "Even if you were to try it would be no worse" "You are disgusting!" "And the strangled girl" "Then it is perfect" "Should you feel too lonely" "And what if the loneliness was so intense that even suicide" "You've not drunk anything tonight," "And what if an old man wanted to take one of these with him on his journey to death?" "The girl tonight is hot-blooded." "Just right for such a cold night." "It's pointless." "She can't hear you anyway." "What did you say?" "Is that French?" "I could simply make her pregnant." "And then?" "No, no." "For the old there is death, for the young there is love." "Death comes to us only once ..." "But what about love?" "Who knows?" "I was about ten years old ..." "I lay in hospital with pneumonia." "and was assailed by shivering fits." "I heard the doctor tell my mother that she should start" "My mother crawled onto my bed," "Her cheeks were drenched ..." "She clasped me, the warmth" "I clutched her too ..." "She wouldn't stop crying." "And then, suddenly, after two weeks I was discharged ..." "She'd saved my life." "But I, too," "It was just after the Great War," "Father was still in a prison camp," "No doctor could help her, they said." "The city was full of sick people" "An old woman from the neighbourhood told her to cut off some of her hair" "That was the only thing" "Mama did as the old woman said," "After just one week," "I thought," "Then she had no hair left at all." "She stroked my head and said," ""Now I'm going to cut off a lock of your hair."" "Back then I had thick, curly hair, but after two weeks," "Then suddenly, as if by a miracle, she became healthy again." "We would often stand together and laugh about our bald heads." "I noticed then that she had even" "Good morning!" "I'm awake!" "I'm just about to get dressed." "The Devil himself" "Enough!" "You have to get up now." "Did you fall back to sleep?" "Here, put this on." "I'll make some tea." "Breakfast is already laid out." "Incidentally, the newspaper reports about the old man only mentioned a "sudden death"." "they managed to secretly move him into" "People are saying that there is probably" "Anyway, you should be very careful." "Is there anything I have to fear?" "They managed to deal with it but if such an incident" "Well, I have the feeling ... that this establishment could not continue to exist much longer." "Two days later" "On the prowl for daughters of pleasure," "You've come on such a cold night?" "To warm oneself on a young body and perhaps to die a sudden death ..." "What vile things you talk of!" "I hope you're not referring to me." "It's like the wind is blowing" "Oh, you mean the season?" "Yes." "And if the dead one's spirit" "Spirit of a dead one?" "Madame ..." "You know about it?" "I understand." "You know about it," "May I please ask you to leave?" "Since I knew it but came anyway," "These things do happen, after all." "Winter is a dangerous time" "I don't know what kind of old men" "I only know Kogi." "But surely you know Mr Kogmann?" "How long have you known Kogi ..." "Who?" "Kogmann." "No, I don't know him." "If a second or third death you'd face serious complications." "But I wouldn't be to blame." "The body of the dead man was taken ..." "What was his name again?" "Under the cover of night, secretly, to some place or other ..." "You helped do it." "I saw you." "We had to consider" "His reputation?" "You mean that even dead men" "Yes, the newspapers would gleefully who died" "A scandal!" "Was it passion?" "Or even ... murder?" "An investigation into the death" "And since this establishment is rather unusual, the other guests" "Not to mention the girls ..." "But the girl must have been so fast" "Certainly not!" "Had we left the gentleman here, we would've had to remove the girl it would be easy to establish" "Ah, she lay nestled close to him" "This is pure fantasy!" "But I was merely joking." "How did you actually realise" "Well ..." "I heard a strange moaning." "The old man's pulse had stopped," "Oh?" "So you were there" "And the girl ... didn't notice anything?" "Even when the old man was taken away?" "It's all arranged so that" ""By such things" ..." "And you've arranged it like that?" "Do I know the girl who was with him?" "You shouldn't ask so many questions!" "And now ... go along to the girl." "Oh, I forgot to tell you ..." "There are two girls tonight." "Two?" "The first time I had sex," "If you could call it that." "It was Walburga's Holy Communion." "Walburga was fourteen, and I was twelve." "And Camilla, her younger sister," "At 10 or 11 o'clock," "We had to sleep in their parents'" "Walburga lay in the middle," "Camilla lay on her left," "Suddenly I felt a warm hand on my stomach." "She felt her way, deeper ... and then thrust her hand" "We kissed each other breathlessly." "She took my hand," "It felt incredible." "She helped my take off my trousers, and pulled up her night-dress" "I felt her breasts," "Our hands were everywhere." "Then she moaned so loud that Camilla she asked, and climbed over us." "And she snuggled up to me too." "Then, unexpectedly and unsuspectingly, she brushed against me." "She cried out, full of indignation," ""Wally, he's not wearing any trousers!"" "Exactly 15 years ago today," "It's hard to believe it's so long ago." "What have I done in all these years?" "Why did you leave me?" "Why?" "I don't believe you ..." "It wasn't an accident." "I simply can't believe that." "You wanted to get away from me." "But why?" "I don't understand." "Whatever I did wrong ..." "You can't just like that." "And why did you take Kiki, our little child, my child, your child, along with you?" "That was what" "Oh, Monika ... why?" "Papa!" "Papa!" "Kiki, my child." "Judging from her breasts," "What's your voice like, I wonder." "When I really like an actress, I shut" "And I imagine she's talking to me," "She has lipstick on her lips." "I'm going to steal a kiss from you." "Surely a guest of this place" "It's not forbidden, is it?" "It's said the lips of a sleeping woman" "But don't the lips convey an even greater" "Have you ever kissed" "No." "Yes!" "Mama." "I kissed her in the coffin." "Well, it wasn't a proper kiss." "Or maybe it was." "It was a farewell kiss." "I had no chance to give my wife" "The crash." "And what if" "I should accept this invitation." "Forgive me." "You must forgive me." "I'm just old, that's all." "The death of an old fart" "How did the madame put it?" "It must be like" "It would nice if it were so." "I should try to get to sleep." "I'm going to take these tablets ... then I'll sleep as she does." "What distinguishes her from a corpse that she is breathing." "The difference is that she will wake up tomorrow" "But perhaps she will feel disgust," "She doesn't even know the man" "She'll probably suspect" "And she won't even tell the madame," "And since she'll remain silent the affair will remain" "If I should die during the night, would it not be" "Then they'd carry me, like all those" "And they'd say that I'd committed" "There'd be no farewell note." "And since no motive would be known," "I was full of despair for and so forth." "Who will be the last woman" "The last woman?" "The first woman?" "It was my mother." "What makes me think that?" "My first woman, yes." "As she suckled me," "Am I permitted to think such things?" "Then some time later ... eight?" "Yes, perhaps ..." "She was going out and wanted to say" "And she said ..." "You're not allowed to do that anymore." "You're not my husband, after all." "Mama ..." "How long is it since you died?" "Welcome home, son." "Why are you two just standing there?" "Is your wife always so shy?" "Mama, what are these flowers for?" "Well, just come inside now." "I almost didn't recognise" "Oh, what lovely flowers!" "But we never had flowers" "Oh, look, a red droplet" "What is it?" "It is blood." "Oh, God!" "Madame!" "Come here!" "What's the matter?" "What are you doing?" " Her lips" "Dead?" "That's impossible." "Did you do anything to her?" "She is not dead," "What did you give her?" "Perhaps she" "Don't worry, you won't be" "Nevertheless, she is dead." "Can I help?" " No, a man is waiting" "Don't worry, just lie down again." "Are you insane?" "How am I meant to sleep?" "Please don't, leaving here at such a time." "All I know of death is that which we all know:" "and plunges us into silence." "A copy of the 'Süddeutsche Zeitung'." "Hello." "A 'Maxi', please." "And 20 in change." "Young defiance blossoms on your lips." "Crimson-red." "It's not the first time" "But he must be punished." "One mustn't hold it against him." "He has no pleasure in life anymore." "I would so much like to release him." "You do understand what I mean?" "I understand." "I'll take care of everything." "I'll be in touch." "Did you want to say something?" "Sometimes I think" "And then he becomes cold once more." "Yes." "You may come." "As usual." "But not before eleven." "DOUBT" "What is 'staying'?" "What is 'finally being' in all of this?" "The following evening" "Boss, wake up." "Thank you, Mr Gold." "Weary of everything, dying and leaving my love alone." "An angel escorts me to eternal rest." "It is done." "I knew that I could rely on you,"