Both of them were startled and, turning around, they noticed for the first time an old man sitting in the shadow of the wall inside the gate. His somewhat eerie eyes were fixed on them, even motioning with his hand to point them in a direction.
In fact, they were already heading in the direction the old man was pointing. They had been startled first by the Tibetan Mastiff, then taken aback by the Mercedes Benz S600—never would they have imagined that in such a remote and impoverished place one would find such a luxury car, and that it was being used to run errands and buy sockets…
So they were a bit more cautious as they walked, afraid of encountering any more surprises. They didn't expect the old man to think they were about to go the other way. After all, wasn't it clear to everyone which way to go with the tile houses to the west and the buildings to the east?
