I mean, really..Who's dangerous..? Just possibly, it's the innocent. They ruin everything. Whether they are Prime Ministers, skydivers, or just plain toddlers, they crash into the delicacy of a world they know nothing about. And yet, even my long years with Axel had not prepared me for my own innocence that night.

Oh reader, save my soul from the sword.

How was I to know...? How could I have known as I took the cable car into the deepest cave under France, under Europe, how could I have known what to expect? Even the dying man is forever dreaming. In the cable car I had imagined tea on the promenade with Helen, considered the pros and cons of hanging myself, thought of Thom and the homework I'd neglected, and, all the while, staring at my old Derby loafers I'd imagined calling Marco ( son of Stefan ), in Florence, regarding their accalimed line in ash grey loafers. So it was. Possibly even I, a therapist, need my defences. But if I'd known then what I know now, I'd have made a better time, made a better fist of it, at Axel's  party.