When you get up from the table, Snitch also gets on his feet and invites you to follow him with an elegant hand gesture.
“Please, come to my humble room. It will be much easier for us to talk there.”
You try to protest, but the guy keeps insisting.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you something that will surely interest you.”
After exchanging glances, you follow the guy up the stairs and into a small but clean chamber.
Snitch carefully seats you on soft puffs. Then he takes a bottle out of the chest and uncorks it with a corkscrew.
“I have something to show you, but first let’s drink to our acquaintance. I hope you are connoisseurs of fine wine. This is Castello Ciarantalla aged 974. Wonderful scent.”
While you sip wine from shabby tin mugs, the guy talks fanatically about wine and peculiarities of winemaking.
As the time passes, you feel lightheaded. Probably Castello Ciarantalla is stronger than average wine. Or what if he put something in the drinks? But the bottle was sealed… Before you have time to think this through, you fall asleep.
When you open your eyes, you see a starry sky in front of you. What happened? The memory doesn’t come back to you right away. You have been sedated by that Snitch-guy!
As you look around, you realize that you are lying on a leper raft. Cripples, drunkards, terminally ill and addicted people sit side by side with you, fixing their glassy eyes on the void.
Somebody brought you here and wasn’t being too careful. Some of you were lying in very uncomfortable positions and are now groaning, stretching their stiff limbs.
But the worst thing is that you were left without a heller! Your pockets are completely empty!
“Hold on, Snitch! We are coming for you!”