— You're nice. You aren't like the rest of them. I like you very much...— I've done nothing to deserve that.— One doesn't have to do anything to deserve that...

No one knew the desert better than Scholscher, who had spent so many nights alone there on the starlit dunes, and no one understood better than he did that need for protection which sometimes grips men’s hearts and drives them to give a dog the affection they dream so desperately of receiving themselves. And certainly this deep feeling of helplessness had never been more agonizing than now.

That night I hardly slept a wink, but turned over and over in my tent; never until then had I felt so alone or so deserted. Perhaps even the elephants are too small, I thought, as I stared into the darkness, and we need a far bigger and more affectionate presence at our side.

Besides, he had slept with a good number of women in his life: it had nothing to do with that need for company. He stubbed out his cigarette in the sand: What he needed was a good dog who would come and offer his paw from time to time.