“It’s loud, you know? Are you ready? Loud, okay?”

He held his hands over his ears. It took a few tries for Hansi to get the idea.

Felix held his finger over the switch and checked to see if Hansi was ready. So this was part of Gendarme Josef Gebhart’s policing duties, he thought, after a fleeting image of Hansi freaking out with the racket that was coming up when he hit the switch: a Gendarme’s day included an escape from the post, getting up in the mountains, tucking into home cooking, chatting about cattle or weather…

Hansi jumped when the siren went off. Felix changed it into highway mode, then to traffic-park. Hansi’s eyes were as big as saucers, but he was smiling. Christmas and birthday rolled into one for this boy, Felix thought. The annoyance had gone now.

“This is to tell someone to stop.”

Hansi let his hands down and began rubbing them together.

Then be began to lift one leg, then the other. Marching?

“This is for when you have to clear traffic, Hansi.”

He didn’t want to say accident.

“You stop and you keep people away. If there is, you know, a problem.”

Hansi didn’t like the slow one. He blinked at the lights as they cycled through. Felix wondered if the geeks who programmed these ever considered they might set off an epileptic fit? He turned it back. Hansi began to jump now.

“Okay Hansi. Genug enough.”

A cruel thought came to Felix: maybe it was like being stoned all the time?

“Wah wah.”

“No more wah wah, Hansi. I’m getting a headache.”

“Wah wah.”

Felix looked toward the windows of the farmhouse. He saw no faces.

“Look, Hansi, don’t be a scheisskopf. You’re not dealing with just a common idiot cop here.”

“Wah wah.”

“I’m going on holidays tomorrow. Did you know? Let’s go back to the house.”