I check my watch. Emil has been gone for some time now. At that moment, he emerges from behind a rock. He is holding something in his hand: “Look what I’ve found.”
He waves it around in front of me. It looks like a rusty cooking pan. Then he puts it on his head. He laughs: “A helmet. Like the ancient Romans.”
I shake my head. And get my camera out of my rucksack: “I’ll take a photo for Grandma Tilly.” On the first photo, Emil’s head is cut off. I need to take a couple of steps backwards. Now I have him fully in shot. I press the shutter.
Emil comes running over. I show him the photo. He looks at the screen, then at the rock, then back at the screen.
“He looks like me,” Emil says. He points to the rock: “There’s his mouth, there’s his nose, his eyes, and his helmet.”
When I walk round the rock, I discover an old wooden sign. I try to make out the writing.
“Réimerkapp” is what’s written there. I tell Emil about my discovery. We wonder what this Roman’s Head is doing in the forest. An idea comes to me: “Maybe this Roman had done something evil and was turned to stone as a result. His body is hidden under the forest floor. And only his head still sticks out.”
