They’ve just run past – sweating a little more this time, and down to two; the other two Carabinieri are lying behind that wall in ecstasy. One of the survivors shouted that this smelled fishy as they flashed past in their lovely blue uniforms… If only they knew!

Not fishy, exactly. Picture essence of midsummer cherries, the smell of new-mown grass, your favourite bubble-gum from childhood. All topped off with the sweetness of a red summer rose at dawn. It’s said to redefine intoxication…

That’s what they get, briefly. But it’s just the trigger: my scent, if you like. What they really taste is the sweetest kiss they’ve ever had from the favourite image of their dreams. And then they’re out, lying in writhing heaven beneath some apple tree by the road… or behind a stone wall, where they’ll moan and mumble till it wears off… An hour of two max; by which time I’ll be back through Assisi and on the road to the coast.

I adore Italy. The worship of these would-be lovers is so passionate, so full of voluptuous images that are easy to tease from the consciousness. Pity I have to go, but the probabilities are gathering momentum against me and I can’t risk it. I’m going to miss this little street-baby of a car, too. Insanely quick over the cobbles of narrow, mediaeval streets in these mouth-watering hill towns, like Spello.

Paris, perhaps? I’ll need a faster car. There’s a drop-dead twenty-something finishing off the restoration of a 1960s Ferrari behind the garage in the main square. I don’t need him to drive, the morphed redhead/blonde/brunette or sci-if shaved skull can do that fine in corporeal mode, thank you very much. But the car might need a mechanic. I’m not sure I could cope with his sighing all the way to the border… where I’d put him gently on a pile of hay and kiss him for real… just once, to thank him. I’m nice, really…

Funny how no-one ever reports a cat on a roof…

©Stephen Tanham 2021

Stephen Tanham is a Director of the Silent Eye, a journey through the forest of personality to the dawn of Being.

http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk and http://www.suningemini.blog