Episode 44:

In August, 1930, artist Grant Wood passed by Lucinda Grenton's cottage and was immediately struck by its architectural style. He painted it and thereby he created an icon, making the house famous all over the country. Many people who had seen the painting even set out for a visit of Miss Grenton's property. Unfortunately she still had a perfect aim at that time, so it turned out to be the last journey for a lot of those art seekers.

To put an end to this a copy of the house was built in Eldon, Iowa, solely for the satisfaction (and safety) of art loving tourists - far away from Lucinda Grenton's (henceforth Winchester) shotgun.

Episode 49:

Please don't ask me any technical questions about the bike! I presume it must be some sort of automatic gear-shift lever, yet I don't have the slightest idea if any such thing exists! Since the story takes place in no particular state or country, it might very well be possible that over there the police are equipped with motorcycles of that kind.

Episode 50:

No, that's not the cop's forename. In fact, it refers to Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Trouble with Harry (USA 1954). Big flop, great picture.

Episode 77:

This picture used to be the epicentre of my desperation for quite a while. Having become a fan of Beetles I wanted to make the car look as credible as possible. And so I used photos and even a little model car. The latter had some sort of knob on the inside of the back side. Against my own belief that Beetles don't have movable rear windows, I trusted that model and drew this picture. Only to find out, that I was right, the model was crap (or at least, the knob wasn't a knob at all), and so was this picture.

BUT: I recently found a very satisfying explanation! See below!

Episode 98:

Everything's possible with a little fantasy. I had already drawn this picture and filled in the text, when in came to my attention that this was in fact the key to my little 'problem'.

And in fact, you have to show me some good proof why it shouldn't be possible for a skilled mechanic to fix this car together with bits and pieces of several other Beetles!

I wouldn't have needed this 'explanation' in order to relax. But since it came along so easily, I take it as a good excuse! :-)

I know that this character might be a little problematic to the readers who are not familiar with la petite mort. It oviously doesn't exist in the USA, I don't know about Britain or other countries. One thing is sure, though: In French and German speaking countries, it should be known. I believe the term little death origines in France. In a common way it describes the sexual highlight, the orgasm. At least this is the best known meaning of what is indicated by saying someone just experienced a little death! (a rather poetic circumscription, as you might have guessed)

There are, however, other meanings of the word. Some equalize it with sleep, yet the most popular name for Morpheus had always been Brother of Death (vice versa, Death has been described as Brother of Sleep), so I didn't take this into my own definition of Little Death.

Other sources referred to la petite mort as any sort of sudden inner disarray, which is experienced either through positive feelings (love, joy, ecstasy) or the contrary (pain, disappointment, fear, sorrow). In either way, this experience has to come in a sudden rush from within . So, it's not the sort of pain we feel when we bruise a finger, it's the pain we feel inside when we realize e.g. someone very dear deceived us or when we are really embarassed. On the other hand, it can be the uplifting of the soul when we hear certain music, or when we succeeded in something.

It is fast and it is strong, and it feels as if one's heart was ready to jump out of the throat. I am sure that everyone has experienced that kind of feeling in some way. Well, yes, and that's it - or rather him. Little D.