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movement. The woman gave him the bill, and he paid. At the ticket
counter he learned that the train was due in ten minutes. That informa–
tion surprised him, and he rubbed his hands together.
The train indeed came on time and, without noticing, took in the
few people who were waiting for it. This time too it was half empty
and quiet. He immediately sat in the dining car and ordered a drink. The
slightly open window and the full glass thawed his clenched fists, and he
quickly ordered a second one, drank it down, and placed his head in his
hands. For a moment it seemed to him that he was still standing up
there, looking at that distortion of himself, and, as in a nightmare, he
wanted to reach out and rescue the children from their mother's bony
hands. That, of course, was a passing spasm. His body gradually was blan–
keted in the rocking of the train. What had happened to him during the
past day was suddenly erased from his mind, and he was left with only
one blind desire: to return home, to eat the hot vegetable soup that
Hirzl had prepared for him, to remove his shoes, and to lay his head on
the pillow.
Translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green
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