CHAPTER 1:Tramuntana

“Damn Tramuntana, I feel like I've been sandblasted,” thought Jean as he placed a large metal bowl of fresh water in front of the lean but muscular dog. The Doberman immediately began lapping up the cool water noisily.

With a broad smile, the pale man opened an ice-cold can of San Miguel. “I really needed that,” he thought as he took big gulps of the Spanish beer. Then he threw open the balcony door. Unlike the front of the house, the veranda seemed largely sheltered from the wind.

Outside the pool, a large calf bone lay in the afternoon sun. “Looks kind of strange,” he mused, but at the same time his dog already had the chunky bone in its mouth.

“Boy, where have you been hiding that thing all this time? Come back into the shade quickly!” The dog immediately dropped his toy. Then he lay down in front of Jean and waited for a new command. Maybe he was just adoring the human. Arthos loved his master. After all, the man had rescued him from extremely poor conditions. Not so long ago, the Doberman male, who had spent his youth on a chain, was considered unadoptable. It was only by chance that the two came together about two years ago, and they had been inseparable ever since.

After spreading out a Catalan daily newspaper in front of him, Jean began to read. Two minutes later, he put it down in annoyance and went to the pool. It was simply too hot to concentrate on any business news. Besides, he was thinking about his life so far. The man looked at his dog and suddenly had the same long face.

He was born almost 48 years ago in a small village near the French border. Although he had somehow managed his life so far, he had rarely been truly satisfied. It was high time to “take a break” again. Jean Sarre had worked almost everywhere, including some time in rainy Germany. Among other things, he had been an expert in fire damage.

You earned a reasonable salary and had a more or less easy job. However, the economic and social situation in your old home country was deteriorating rapidly. In addition, more and more people were simply being made redundant so that share prices and dividends could continue to r