The Prince of Darkness

In the courtyard under her window, two night creatures are arguing. One of them calls himself Prince of Darkness. Igor calmly turns the house where Persephone lives into a stolen good den. He hawks itemsfrom so-called house clearances. House clearance is a word for burglary andtheft.

Ned is amused by the precarious surroundings. He is on top again. He is a king and Persephone is his queen. No matter where they are and no matter what else is going on, they have this special relationship that allows them to ignore any awkward situation as long as they are together and tuned in.

Persephone avoids alcohol. She only drinks something in a bar if it fits her script. If it's necessary for the performance, she smokes. Apart from that, she thinks cigarettes are a terrible poison. But what is part of a presentation never does any harm, according to Persephone's firm belief.

She offers Ned water in her kitchen. She thinks water is always a super drink. She asks him to be patient. She needs a moment of preparation. She leaves him alone and retreats to her living room, which is also her bedroom. She decides on a black negligee. She checks her appearance, she takes her part of the contract very seriously. She puts on perfume. She fetches Ned from the kitchen and places him in her only armchair. She presents herself, turns around, enjoying the lecherous appraisal. Now everything is back to how it should be. She lifts the hem and turns around again.

"Do you like me?" she asks for no other reason but to hear Ned's rough voice.

"I like you a lot," he answers obediently.

"I know how much you enjoy my ass, but what's about my pussy? Does it give you something even if you can't stick your cock in it?"

The question undermines Ned.

Persephone senses a communication breakdown coming. That must not happen.

"Sorry," she says, "I slipped into the wrong line of my script. I didn't want to ask you that."

Although she is very interested.

She kneels on the carpet and asks:

"Make me cum without coming near."

Ned closes his eyes. He is trying to concentrate. Total focus. Life is a matter of mind. "Our life (is) nothing other than what we focus our attention on," says Maren Urner. Suddenly Ned is completely there. He sees himself as a hero in a bar fight. In the end, Daniela pulls him into a corner. For her, flesh is the only real thing. Nora's ethereal orgasms take place in another universe.

She kisses as if she were sucking down a cup of smoothie in one go with a straw. She naturally takes care of Ned's cock as well as she takes gastronomic measures. For Daniela, it's all in line. This is a irregular after-shift number. Daniela can't imagine that it could be any other way. She and Ned complete the standard course in fast-forward, while Persephone feels completely appreciated and at the center of a great force. She bares her breasts and emphasizes them with her hands. She gives the image as a gift to Ned. He stirs up Daniela, who can't believe that something that has nothing to do with banging could be sex. Ned finds his intensity. He can throw almost anyone off track with it, but also seem as if he only exists to irradiate his counterpart. Persephone reaches her climax on schedule. She then falls asleep feeling like she is living at the peak of her potential.

When we dream, what do we remember?

Where does the anthropology that is in our blood lead us? Certainly, in hunger and pain, in trust and contempt, we leave the Bible and Babylon, the Flood and the beginning of sedentarism behind us. We return to hidden valleys that sheltered groups and encouraged isolation, and even go beyond them in the fleetingness of a thought, in a quick judgment, in an excellent reaction as a road user, in a seemingly unreasonable unease, a touch of disgust as well as in a sudden affection. Finally, we come to a crossroads where thirty thousand years ago people of robust nature left their mark for the last time. We may dream that this anxiety may have survived in fear and contempt as a phylogenetic legacy. For the longest time, we were not unchallenged among our peers. We came to our position in the course of a cultural acceleration that only began forty thousand years ago. What if an old rival rises from the boards of his defeat? If he would have been knocked out only for the blink of an eye.

Fly with the eagles or scratch with the chicken

Summer arrives as suddenly as a raid and as late as the German Federal Railway. I've just remembered that we haven't even talked about the weather yet. Everything is getting spruced up once again, as if to encourage the realization that everything is only made for the moment. We turn each other around like people turn worn-out sets in times of austerity. That is Persephone's picture of the situation in the troubled garden of "Gernegroß", a cabaret theater to which she feels connected. Because theater director Nasenschweiß is such an original mind, the Christmas party is in June. Nasenschweiß turns sausages. The grill is a relic from the Wild West era after 1989. Some people know about that, others don't care. Most of the employees are blonde. That's how it turned out in many job interviews. Nasenschweiß conducts the job interviews.

Persephone is blonde too. Blonde and brown-eyed. The side parting is Sophie Scholz chic. Persephone is wearing a dress that she believes underlines her carefree attitude, and nothing underneath. Her nipples are clearly visible under the fabric. There is no man who does not notice and react to this. Persephone is enjoying her fourth day of dating Ned, who turns up in a suit to leave no doubt that he is a representative of the establishment and is aiming for a professorship in order to combine his family's money with a noble spirit.

An artist is talking about Perche balancing.

Persephone pulls Ned out of the turmoil. Disguising her intentions with a few pointless swerves, the two carefully sit down in a cabinet. There is the television, next to a tower of empty boxes. On the table lies a gnawed bee sting on its bag. A joint is rotting in an antique ashtray. One could inspect a collection of bottle caps in patinated tankards.

"Now and here," Persephone demands.

She lifts the dress just high enough. Ned sinks two fingers in routinely. Persephone needs five selfish minutes. Then she licks Ned's involved finger. The excitement comes like a jolt. Now the nipples poking through the fabric also have an effect. During the final French kiss, Ned floods Persephone's palate with his saliva. She swallows demonstratively and looks at Ned expectantly.

"Perfect," he says.

Then the point is ticked off. It's still good, but it's also already clear when the program will start to drag. A guy who everyone calls Texas enters the scene unsuspectingly. He immediately understands the situation, but also doesn't care at all. Texas always knows who sang a song first and which version sounds right. He is annoyed that the whole world is listening to Johnny Cash at the moment. He talks about Junior Brown's homemade guitar. He delights in the sound of pedal steel. His grandfather was a basket weaver, his father a policeman in a small town in the Taunus Mountains that became the outskirts of an American garrison after the Second World War. On village streets, Texas learned the world language of the victors. He imitated soldiers and thus accidentally adopted a foreign lifestyle. Farmers' sons from Tennessee let him play with their weapons. They taught him this laid-back manner, which he has used like a shield to defend himself since he moved to East Germany. He still believes he is flying with the eagles.

Texas is overjoyed to see the Texan Ned. He uses all his redneck sayings and wants to exchange email addresses. Persephone saves Ned from Texas. She puts her arm in his.

She says: "You're mine, I'll never let you go."

"Then you'll have to get sex the usual way."

"I thought you'd be as bored as I'm. You underestimate yourself. The play in the club room was so good, and now we're just as charged together as before."