Without my father noticing, I slipped away from him, stole over to his car (parked nearby), and got in. I started the car up and slowly drove past the shelter, watching my father to see if he noticed me: he didn't. Once out of his sight I relaxed, concentrated on my driving, and turned my attention to a passenger sitting in the front seat with me: a pretty blonde (probably not more than 20 years old). In fact, although I realized I was actually traveling on a mountain road, heading downhill, and having some difficulty driving and controlling the car, most of my attention was focused on the blonde, and my main desire was to find a secluded spot somewhere off in the trees where I could park and we could get to know each other better – much better.

We only went a short ways up the gravel road when I saw where it led: a large beautiful lake, shrouded in fog and tall green pine trees, stretched out on our left. This scene was so amazing to me; it seemed exactly the type of place where I would like to settle down and live: off in the forest, next to a mountain lake. And to my surprise, on my right, stood a cottage with a "For Sale" sign in the yard. I pointed the house out to the blonde, wondering if it were open and if we could go inside and look around. But then I saw a black car or jeep parked in the open garage, and I just kept riding, thinking someone must be home, and I didn't want to bother them.

We only continued for about another hundred meters before the road came to an end at a ramshackle house at the end of the lane. Seeing that someone was in this house, I quickly turned around and headed back toward the house which was for sale. When I reached it again, I stopped and again looked wistfully at the house. I thought about exactly where I was. I knew I was somewhere in Europe, possibly Germany, and that I wasn't far from Switzerland. I knew I wanted to settle down permanently in Switzerland, but I also thought this place was close enough, and I could be happy living here. However I doubted that I had enough money to buy this house right at the moment. I thought the house must be terribly expensive, not because it was such a great house in itself, but because the location was excellent.

As we stood in front of the house, I could see someone inside, a black-haired man with a mustache. I thought he must be the owner and not wanting to talk with him at the moment, I turned to leave.

Before we could move, however, I took another look out toward the lake, and something unusual caught my attention. Right on the shore of the lake, not far from us, stood several extremely tall pine trees. I heard a sudden explosion and saw one pine tree starting to fall. But then, looking closer, I saw that just the top part of the pine tree, perhaps the top eight meters, had broken off, and that it was falling to the ground. Amazed, I watched as the top of the tree hurtled down and crashed to the ground.