“What saved me from open conflict with him from the first moment I set foot in #1409 was partly self-discipline on my side, partly the fortunate circumstance that I was able to muffle the effect of this jungle themed wallpaper by thinking of my own wallpaper, i.e.
wallpaper of the highest Kroft & Aklam quality, where the same tiny little puppy is reproduced over and over again in groups or rather in wheels or circles of five and five, or, if you like, in rosette-patterns which are made up of five little walldogs springing at each other's tails, that's to say five walldogs to each rosette. I don't doubt for one moment that it was the thought of the five rosette-dogs which saved my relationship with Lem from degenerating into fisticuffs”