LESLIE EPSTEIN
51
same year I went for the first time to the Vienna Opera. What did I see
there? A stone statue singing! A pink cloud above him when he sank
to
Hell!"
A third pause. Then Margolies: "My first post as an apprentice
waiter took place at the three-star Scotch Hotel, in Bialystok. This was
March, 1900. I was just seventeen. One day, not long after this job
began, there was a stir in the grand dining room. All of the waiters and
headwaiters were gathered around an oval table. I will tell you who was
sitting there. With a cigarette in a holder and a dark blue gown, Sarah
Bernhardt. Then on a world tour. Imagine my feelings when I,
remember a mere apprentice, then leaning against a distant wall,
realized that the famous actress was making a signal to me!
Un Cafe
Creme!
she demanded.
"In those days my hair was black and curly, and I wore the curls
mostly on one side. Also I had a moustache. That is how I looked when
I came up with a cup and a saucer and a pot of hot coffee and a pot of
hot milk. I combined these elements without a flaw. Sarah Bernhardt,
dear friends! With earrings! With eyebrows! What a terrible blow when
I read in the newspaper that they had to cut off her leg."
Verble: "I suggest we look at things this way. Not who should go
but who shou ld stay. The biologically sound material. The socially
valuable elements. From this perspective, it's obvious we shou ld put
down the names of the fifty oldest people in the Suburb. They've lived
their lives. We haven't!"
The assembl y of Ministers groaned, as if they had been awakened.
Fried Rievesaltes slapped at the fly on his wrist.
"Dry leaves," said Nomberg, "must fall."
Dorka Kleinweiss: "I disagree completely. I have not changed my
mind. How can you bring yourselves to do the Masters' work for them?
How do you
know
it's not because you've been promised an exemp–
tion? What if one of us writes down a name because of some private
quarrel, to settle some personal debt. We are not, fellow members, the
Lords of life and death."
Paradyz: "Come, come, Minister Kleinweiss. What an exaggera–
tion.
It
is not a question of life and death. We are simply deciding who
is
to
continue
to
live in the Suburb, and who shall live on a farm. It's
not as if we were condemning people to prison."
Baggelman: "I have a question for the Minister of Provisions and
Supply. Suppose you were driving a van down a narrow mountain
road. The mountain is on one side and on the other is a cliff measuring
hundreds of meters. Unexpectedly you see before you a child on the
