58
PARTISAN REVIEW
"Speak! Tell us what to do!"
Lunt looked a t the Judenra t. Imposs ibl e to tell whether o r no t he
could really see them. He sm il ed. " J ews, you don 't know?"
" No! We can 't make a list and we can't not ma ke a list ! Where is
the logic in that?"
On tha t Rabbi 's face th ere was a dreamy express io n. " Look what
they did
to
my sportcoat. They ripped off the sleeve."
Urinstein leaned forwa rd. "Tell!"
Lunt did. "We have to kill each o ther and the las t person a live h as
to kill himself. I saw that at once. T hat's why I fa inted. "
There was absolute silence. Not even th e sound of breathing. The
white p lates on the tabl e were the bri ghtes t o bj ects in the darkened
room. After some time Schpitalnik rema rked , " It's a good idea."
" Hee, h ee," Popower tittered . " We could resign after all. "
Paradyz was actually laughing. " Ha! Ha! Like a t Masada! We
wou ld be written up in hi sto ry! "
" Ha l Hal H al" Others were a lso laughing. " I wou ld like to see
their faces! When
th ey
come into th e room. "
Then Gutfreind, from five meters off, ran as ha rd as he could
against the wall. " Look!" he cri ed. " I ran into it !"
" I am bea ting my head aga inst the plaster surface! But nothing
happens! " That was Phil osoff.
Then everyone ran thi s way and tha t, trying
to
think of a way to
put Lunt's plan into eff ect.
"Choke me," said Wo lf-Kitzes to the Minister o f Industry and
Labor, "and I'll choke you !"
"What if I unscrewed the bulb from the lamp? And then put my
finger into the socket? We could do tha t, one after the o ther !" The
Scotch Hotel waiter stood on the table and removed o ne of the unlit
bulbs. Then he wailed, " It onl y ti ckl es!"
Said Kornischoner, " I don 't have to kill myse lf! I'm no t even a live!
Yesterday I produced sixteen powder puffs, fi ve rejected . For thi s I
was given only as much soup as could be soaked into one sli ce of bread .
The fewer puffs I make, the less food they give me, the sma ll er my
strength to make puffs the foll owing day. It 's a vicious circl e!"
"This is awful ! It 's so hard
to
kill a person! "
" I have it ! Let' s throw o urselves o ut! Onto the cobbl estones!"
"Yes! Tha t's the way!"
There was a rush fo r the window, a bi g jam-up. Two or three
members tri ed to pull up the sash. Then the ones in front no ti ced, in
the lamp li ght, the men in bl ack unifo rms below. " Wa tch out !" they
warned. "They' ll see us! " Then they all whirl ed around and ran back
