Abstinence leads to suffering, falling off the wagon means death. Tinou must adhere to a strict regimen to qualify as a recipient of a new liver. Aschi is also suffering: from the lacklustre present, which seems to render his brilliant past all the more magnificent. But he retrieves the past in a letter from South Arica. Tinou knows that Aschi cannot manage the trip there without him, but his health is a top priory. During the operation he dreams that every wish life had ever deprived him of is fulfilled. He pre-empts the trip to Africa and dies in the arms of Miriam, the nurse anaesthetist. Now Aschi must complete the journey without Tinou.