80
PARTISAN REVI EW
In those days European Lutherans used to send donations in them–
coffee, tea, chocolate, shampoo, and washing powder-though, strange
to relate, the smell had completely evaporated from those latest boxes.
They didn't smell of martia I law. They smelled of nothingness.
Kohoutek worked without a break and didn't say a word. His cur–
rent woman sat on the suitcase, smoked a cigarette, and was silent too.
Only when he had finished did he straighten up, wipe the sweat from
his brow and ask:
"When did you arrive?"
"Now," Kohoutek's current woman replied.
"IT'S
HIGH TIME
we gave some serious thought to taking in lodgers,"
said Kohoutek over supper in a voice trembling with anxiety. "Winter's
on its way; there'll be crowds of skiers, quite a few of whom will be
looking for somewhere to stay, and there's no lack of empty rooms
here."
"That's right." Kohoutek unexpectedly found the Postmaster,
Kohoutek's grandfather, taking his side. "Young folk will be coming
into town, and young folk should be given support, because they are our
future."
"If
we were to let a room to someone nice"-Oma, Kohoutek's
grandmother, was sipping at a cup of tea-"then at least there'd be
someone to talk to around here."
"Well, you can just kill me"-Kohoutek's mother was as white as a
sheet-"kill me and bury me, and if not then I'll kill all of you. Don't
you know what it means to let a stranger into the house?"
"What does it mean? " asked Kohoutek, taken aback by his own
courage.
"What does it mean? It means the end. Sit up straight, sit up straight;
if someone sees you slouching like that then you've had it. Letting a
stranger into the house means annihilation for everyone of us."
"He'll keep turning on the light"-Miss Wandzia's mother spat our
the litany of crimes hatefully, word by word-"He'll make food, he'll
wash in the bathroom, he'll use the toilet.... "
"Isn't it better"-Oma broke off a piece of shortcake and dipped it
in her tea-"Isn't it better that he should turn on the light and use the
toilet, rather than relieving himself in a corner with the light off?"
"Sure it's better!" Kohoutek's mother spoke so quietly it seemed that
at any moment now she'd pass out with rage. "Sure it's better! Sure, just
