ALFRED LICHTENSTEIN
The Winner
Max Mechenmal was an independent manager of a newspaper kiosk. He
ate and drank well; he had relations with many women, but he was care–
ful. Because his salary was insufficient, he occasionally permitted himself
to take money from Ilka Leipke. Ilka Leipke was an unusually small, but
well-developed, elegant whore, who attracted many men and women with
her bizarre nature and apparently silly ideas, as well as with her actually
tasteful clothing. Miss Leipke loved little Max Mechenmal. She called him
her sweet dwarf. Max Mechenmal was angry all his life that he was small.
Max Mechenmal came from an unfortunately impoverished family. He
had enjoyed an excellent education in an institution for retarded children
until he was forcibly dismissed at a very early age. The reasons for his dis–
missal were not available; it seemed to have more to do wi th the poverty
of Mechenmal's relatives than with the fact that he was clearly unbearable.
For a while he wandered about homeless, since his family no longer took
any interest in him. He supported himself mostly by petty larceny. Once
the police picked him up and he was brought to a home for neglected chil–
dren. In the home he was trained as a locksmith. He knew how to
ingratiate himself with his superiors by showing unusual dexterity and
willingness. He secretly tormented his younger, weaker comrades, or he set
the stronger ones against each other. He had no friends; when he had com–
pleted his training and was released, the others were happy.
The unusual skill that Max Mechenmal, because of his technical gifts,
had developed in making keys and opening difficult locks he would very
gladly have used for breaking and entering, and burglary; he would have
liked to have become an infamous burglar. The proceeds from the burglar–
ies would have permitted him to dress elegantly, to show off with the
finest women. The sickening, massive fear of being caught prevented him.
He was content to seduce the daughters and servants of the masters for
whom he worked, and to commit occasional burglaries that involved little
risk. His ambition remained unsatisfied.
By chance the direction of Mechenmal's life was changed. At the end
of a day's work, tired and in a bad mood, he was walking the streets. Lights
were scarcely visible, although it was very dark. In an elegant ground-floor
room, an elderly lady was arranging the fold of her body. In front of a base–
ment, dirty little girls were singing the song of the Lorelei. The windows
