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       Although: I very much shared with my friends the re-established triumphant spirit and
eager zeal for work - I understandably didn't feel quite safe in my synthetic skin  and this
I couldn't share with anyone: because Lena would immediately be angry with me  - if she dis-
covered: that I was poking my nose: where she expressly forbade me to do so.
       So I decided to go to the land after my service.         Seeing old friends: visiting
favorite places - simply relax and think.  I haven't been there for a long time  - my world:
like Lena's: was completely transferred to reality.
       But the unpleasant feeling did not leave me.
       I thought      - I will make a meadow with wild poppies on the edge of my picturesque
forest: lie down in the middle and count herons and snow-white clouds: but no.
       As if something was always lurking for me.
       It was very similar to the times: when the local happy and carefree chaos was demoni-
cally organized by a certain playful: deviant mind.
       And actually: other things also pointed in this direction.
       I remembered a strange sentence that Natasha said at parting: when Lena and I met her
at the Tiger Palace: "come see me then in the Savannah  - once you catch your bloody groom."
       I then looked at Lena incomprehensibly:  and she made a circle with her finger on her
forehead: "too much heat:" she smiled..
       "Maybe it's time  for some hot sun today:"  was my next thought: and the African sky:
a moment later: lit up my eyes with an orange twilight.
       The tall grass tickled my palms and oval spots began to appear on my forearms.     My
back arched: my waist narrowed and my limbs lengthened.
       The wind was inviting me to a free run race.
       Hooves sounded in front of me: I crouched down:   and my nostrils widened with hungry
thrill.
       But this was new.
       Before: I just happily chased the still escaping horizon       - blissful and empty -
leaving all my contents behind.
       I quietly approached the herd of gazelles:    selected the proudest and most graceful
female and ran in her footsteps.
       She eluded me in long jumps and lightning dodges: tossed to the sides:       abruptly
changed direction and speed: slipped in breakneck turns: kicked with her hooves: disappeared
in stalks and dived into bushes.
       The distance between us slowly grew.
       Then  a beautiful  sand-colored lioness appeared next to me  - whipped her tail in my
ribs:  ran past me with two jumps:  and knocked the gazelle to the ground  with one swipe of
her strong paw.
       Nothing quenches a hunter's thirst better: than the hot blood of dying prey.
       "Where did you leave your boyish fragility?"   :asked Natasha as we lay naked next to
each other under the crown of a huge bushy acacia.