Chapter 2 Chapter One

one Herman.Brod rolled over and opened one eye.He was in a sleepless sleep, not sure if he was in America, in Zivkov, or in a German refugee camp.He even imagined himself hiding in Lipsk's hayloft.Sometimes these places were mixed together in his mind.He knew he was in Brooklyn, but he could hear the Nazis yelling.They stabbed him randomly with bayonets, trying to scare him out, so he tried his best to drill deep into the hayloft.The point of the bayonet touched his head. A decisive action is required to fully wake up.okay!he said to himself, sitting up.It was nine o'clock.Jadwiga was up early.From the mirror on the opposite wall, he saw his own appearance: distorted face, little hair left, which used to be red, but now it has yellowed and shows strands of gray.His brows were shaggy, and beneath them were piercing, soft blue eyes, a narrow nose, sunken cheeks, and thin lips.

Hermann woke up, always rumpled and shabby, looking as if he'd been wrestling all night.This morning there was still a bruise on his high forehead.He felt the lump.What's going on here?He asked himself, did he get hurt by the bayonet in his sleep?Thinking of this, he smiled.He must have touched it on the side of the closet door when he got up to go to the bathroom at night. Jadwiga?he called in a sleepy voice. Yadwija ​​appeared at the door.She was a Polish woman, with rosy cheeks, a snub nose, and pale eyes; her hair, the color of flaxen, was combed back in curls and fastened with a pin.Her cheekbones were high and her lower lip was full.She held a mop in one hand and a watering can in the other.She was wearing a red and green square pattern, an unusual pattern in the United States, and slippers with frayed heels.

After the war, Jadwiga and Hermann lived together in a German refugee camp for more than a year, and then lived together in the United States for another three years, but she still maintained the strange and shy look of a Polish rural girl.She doesn't use cosmetics and speaks only a few words of English.Herman even thought she had Lipsque's air; in bed she smelled of chamomile.Now, from the kitchen, came the smell of roasted beets, new potatoes, jollies, and other summer vegetables that grew in the ground, plants that he couldn't name but that reminded him of Lipsk. She looked at him with mild reproach and shook her head.It's getting late, she said.I've done my laundry and done my shopping.I've had breakfast, but I'm going to have it again now.

Jadwiga spoke Polish with a rural accent.Hermann spoke Polish and sometimes Yiddish, which she did not understand. ] to speak to her; when the mood was good, Herman would insert a few quotations from the Bible, or even a sentence from the Talmud, in Hebrew.She always listens. Sheksey, what time is it now?He said. It's almost ten o'clock. OK, I'm going to get up. Would you like some tea? No, don't drink it. Don't walk around barefoot.I'll get you slippers.I polished my slippers. Are you shining your slippers again?Has anyone seen a shoe shine? Slippers are too dry.

Herman shrugged.What did you use to polish your slippers?asphalt?You are still a country girl from Lipsk. Jadwiga went to the wardrobe and brought him a bathrobe and slippers. She was Hermann's wife, and the neighbors called her Mrs. Broad, but she acted in front of Hermann as if they were still in Zifkef, and she was still his father, Lib.Xie Miaoer.Leib.Like a servant of the Brod family.Hermann's entire family had perished in the Holocaust.Hermann is still alive because Jadwiga hid him in a hayloft in her native village of Lipsk.Jadwiga's mother never knew where Herman was hiding.After the war ended in 1945, Hermann learned from an eyewitness that the Nazis had dragged his children away from their mother and killed them, and later his wife Tamara had been shot.Hermann went to Germany with Jadwija, entered a refugee camp, and when he got a visa to the United States, he and Jadwija ​​were married according to the civil ceremony.Jadwija ​​had always wanted to convert to Judaism, but Hermann saw no point in tying her to a religion he didn't follow himself.

The journey to Germany was slow and resigned, and then they took a warship to Halifax. ], came to New York by bus, these journeys made Jadwija ​​confused, until now, she dare not take the subway alone.She never went more than a few blocks.In fact she didn't have to go anywhere else.She can get everything she needs from Mermaid Avenue bread, fruit, vegetables and halal meat (Hermann doesn't eat pork), sometimes a pair of shoes or a dress or something. When Hermann was at home, he and Jadwija ​​always went for walks on the boardwalk.Although he kept telling her that she didn't have to grab him and that he wouldn't run away from her, Jadwiga held his arm tightly.All the noise and uproar deafened her ears; everything seemed to shake and shake before her eyes.Her neighbors urged her to go to the beach with them, but the experience of traveling across the ocean to America made her terribly afraid of the ocean.Just the sight of the choppy waves made her stomach churn.

Occasionally Herman took Jadwiga to a cafeteria on the Brighton seafront, but there was a deafening roar of trains passing by on the elevated railway near the restaurant; cars speeding this way or that, There were harsh noises; the crowds were everywhere in the street, and Jadwija ​​was not used to it.Afraid that she would get lost, Herman bought her a small box and hung it under the necklace. Inside was a small piece of paper with her name and address written on it; She didn't believe what she wrote. It seems fate has changed Jadwija's life.For three years, Hermann lived entirely on her.He stayed in the hayloft, and she brought him food and water, and took away his excrement.Whenever her sister Mariana was going to the hayloft, she always climbed up the ladder first and told him to hide in the hollowed out place deep in the hay.In summer, when freshly cut hay was being stored, Jadwiga hid him in the potato cellar.She was always putting her mother and sister in danger; if the Nazis found a Jew hiding in the straw shed, all three women would be shot, and maybe the whole village would be burned.

two Jadwija ​​now lives upstairs in an apartment complex in Brooklyn.She had two luxurious rooms, a hall, a bathroom, and a kitchen with refrigerator, gas range, appliances, and a telephone; Herman always called her when he was out selling books.Herman may be doing business far away, but his voice makes her feel close to him.When he was in high spirits, he still sang her favorite song to her on the phone: Ah, if we had a little boy, Praise the God of heaven! Where will our little one sleep peacefully? Praise the God of heaven! In the street below there's a tub in the snow, Our little boys will sleep in basins,

Sing to him a sweet lullaby, If we have a little boy. Praise the God of the poor! Where will our little one be wrapped? Praise the God of the poor! Wrapped in your baggy apron and my woolen scarf. We can wrap him in these things, Keep him safe and secure from the cold. A song is just a song.Herman takes steps not to impregnate Jadwiga.A man has no right to have children in a world where his children can be taken from their mothers and killed.For Jadwiga, the apartment he gave her made up for not having children.The house was like one of those magically furnished palaces in the stories old country women tell when they spin flax or pluck feathers: press a button on the wall and the lights come on.Cold and hot water will flow from the tap.A turn of the knob brings up the flame and you can cook on it.There is a bathtub in the house, you can take a bath every day, so that you will be clean and free from lice and fleas.And a radio!Hermann always turns the tuning knob to a station that broadcasts in Polish in the morning and evening, Polish songs, mazurka [Note: It was originally a Polish folk dance, and later became a classic dance in classical music. ], polka dance [Note: A Czech folk dance music, later popular in Europe and the United States. ], and on Sunday, the preacher's sermon and the news from Poland resounded through the room.

Jadwiga couldn't read or write, but Hermann wrote letters to her mother and sister for her.Every time a reply came, the letter was written by the teacher in the village, and Herman would read it to her.Sometimes her sister would put in the envelope a grain, a twig or a small flower plucked from an apple tree with a leaf, so that she could remember it in faraway America. Pusk. Yes, Hermann was Jadwija's husband, brother, father, and God in this distant country.She had fallen in love with Hermann's father when she had been a servant in his father's house.She had always thought of Herman as worthy and wise, and after living abroad with him for a few years she knew she was quite right.He knows how to live in the world. He rides trains and cars; he reads books and newspapers; he earns money.If you need something at home, just tell him, and he will bring it back in person or let the courier company deliver it.Jadwija ​​always drew three small circles for her signature, as he taught her to do.

On her name day, May 17th, Hermann brought her two parakeets, as the people here call them.The yellow ones are males, the blue ones are females.Jadwiga called them Vojtus and Mariana after her dear father and sister.The relationship between Jadwiga and her mother has always been difficult.Since her father's death, her mother remarried, and her stepfather often beat her and her ex-husband's children.Because of him, Jadwiga had to leave home to work as a servant in a Jewish home. Jadwiga was content as long as Hermann was home more time, or at least slept there every night.But Herman made a living selling books, and wandered about.As soon as he went out, Jadwiga chained the door, fearing thieves, so that the neighbors couldn't get in either.The older ladies who lived in the apartment complex spoke to her in Russian, English and Yiddish.They inquired about her, where she was from and what her husband did.Hermann told her to tell them as little as possible.He taught her to say in English, I'm sorry, I'm not free. three Hermann was shaving, and there was water in the tub.His beard grows fast.In just one night, his face became as piercing as a scrub brush.Standing in front of the medicine cabinet mirror, he was tall and slender, a little taller than average, with tufts of hair on his narrow chest like a tuft of brown whiskers ripped out of old sofas and armchairs.He can eat as much as he wants, but he is still very thin.The ribs are clearly visible, and the neck and shoulders are deeply sunken.His Adam's apple seemed to move up and down automatically.From his whole appearance, he looked tired.He stood there and began to think wildly.The Nazis have returned to power and occupied New York.Hermann was hiding in the bathroom.Jadwija ​​had bolted and painted the bathroom door so it looked exactly like the rest of the walls. Where am I sitting?Just sit on the toilet bowl.I can sleep in the tub.No, it's too short.Hermann carefully assessed the tile floor to see if it would be enough for him to lie down on.But even if he lays down diagonally, he still has to bend his legs.Well, here at least he has light and air.The bathroom has a window facing a small courtyard. Hermann began to calculate how much food Jadwiga would have to send him each day to keep him going: two or three potatoes, a slice of bread, a piece of cheese, a spoonful of vegetable oil, and now and then a vitamin tablet.These things cost her no more than a dollar and a half a week.Here Hermann will have books and stationery.Compared with Lipsk's hayloft, this place can be said to be very luxurious.He could hold a loaded revolver, or a machine gun.If the Nazis found his hiding place and came for him, he would welcome them with a barrage of bullets, leaving one for himself. The tub was almost overflowing; the bathroom was full of steam.Hermann immediately turned off the tap.He was immersed in fantasies and was fascinated. As soon as he was in the tub, Jadwija ​​pushed the door open and entered.Here's a bar of soap for you. I have another piece here. This is soap.you smell.Three yuan a corner. Jadwiga sniffed it herself, then handed it to Hermann.Her hands were still as rough as those of a farmer.In Lipsk, she had to do what a man did.She sows, reaps, threshes, grows potatoes, and even saws and chops wood.Neighbors in Brooklyn tried to soften her hands by giving her various medicated lotions, but they were still as callused as those of a laborer.Her calves were muscular and hard as rock.The rest of her body was smooth and soft.Her breasts were white and full; her hips were round.She is thirty-three years old, but looks younger. From dawn to bedtime, Jadwija ​​never rested for a moment.She is always looking for something to do.The apartment they lived in was not far from the sea, but a lot of dust was still flying in through the open windows, so Jadwiga washed, mopped, brushed, and wiped all day long.Hermann remembered his mother's admiration for her industriousness. Come, let me soap you, Jadwija ​​said. In fact, Hermann felt as if he were alone.He hadn't quite figured out the specifics of how he'd evaded the Nazis here in Brooklyn.For example, the window should be camouflaged so that the Germans don't see it as a window.But how to pretend? Jadwija ​​started soaping his back, his arms, his waist.Yadwija ​​wanted a child very badly, and he kept preventing her from getting it done, so for her he took the child's place.She likes him and plays with him.Every time he left home, she worried that he might never come back and he might get lost in the chaos and vastness of America.Every time he comes home seems like a miracle.She knew he was going to Philadelphia today, that he was going to spend the night there, but at least he would have breakfast with her. The smell of coffee and toast wafts from the kitchen.Jadwiga has learned how to make Zifkeff's poppy-seed burritos.She prepared all kinds of exquisite food for him, and made him his favorite meals: dumplings, red cabbage soup with unleavened dough balls, milk corn paste, beef juice cereal. Every day she had a freshly pressed shirt, underwear and socks ready for him.She wanted to do as much as possible for him, but he needed very little.He spends more time on the road than at home.She longed desperately to speak to him. What time does the train leave?she asked. What?Open at two o'clock. You said it would open at three o'clock yesterday. A little past two. Where is this city? You mean Philadelphia?In America.Where else could it be? Is it far? In Lipsk, this distance is very far; but here, it only takes a few hours to get there by train. How do you know who is going to buy a book? Hermann mused.I don't know who will.I try to sell as much as possible. Why don't you sell it here?There are so many people here. You mean Coney Island?They're here for popcorn, not for reading. What kind of books are they? Ah, books of all kinds: how to build bridges, how to lose weight, how to run a government, that sort of thing, plus song books, novels, plays, and a book about Hitler's life Yadwija's face turned serious.They write books about this swine? They write all kinds of dirty books. oh.Yadwija ​​walked into the kitchen.After a while, Herman also followed. Jadwija ​​had opened the small door of the cage, and the parakeets were flying around the room.The yellow parrot Vojtus perched on Hermann's shoulder.It liked to peck Herman's earlobes and eat the crumbs on his lips or the tip of his tongue.To Jadwija's surprise, Hermann looked younger, more radiant, and more cheerful after grooming. She brought him hot burritos, brown bread, an omelet, and coffee with milk.She wanted him to eat well, but he didn't eat anything.He took a small bite of the burrito and set it aside.He only tasted the omelet.His appetite must have diminished during the war, but Jadwija ​​remembered him eating very little.When he was at university in Warsaw, his mother used to argue with him about it every time he came home. Jadwiga shook her head in concern.He swallowed the meal without chewing.It was still early to leave at two o'clock, but he still kept looking at his watch.He sat on the edge of the chair, as if ready to jump at any moment.His eyes seemed to be staring beyond the wall. Suddenly he shook off the mood and said: Tonight, I'm going to have dinner in Philadelphia. Who is eating with you?Are you alone? He began speaking to Jadwiga in Yiddish.one person.Here's what you think!I will be with the Queen of Sheba [Note: According to the records of the Hebrew Bible, it is a queen who ruled the kingdom of Sheba in eastern Africa, and lived in the same age as King Solomon. 】have a meal together.I'm no more a book salesman than you are the Pope's wife!I work for that slippery rabbi, but if we don't we'll starve.And the Bronx [Note: One of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. ] That woman is simply unpredictable.It's a miracle I haven't lost my mind after dealing with the three of you.Obediently! Can I understand you talking like that! Why do you want to know? "Ecclesiastes" says, because with much wisdom, there is much sorrow.If there is anything left in our poor souls, the truth will be known, not now, but later.If there's nothing left, then we'll just have to make do with the fact that there's no truth. Want more coffee? OK, a little more. What's the news in the newspaper? Ah, they've signed a truce, but it won't last.It won't be long before they're going to war with those buffalo again.They will never stop fighting. Where to play? in North Korea. The radio said Hitler was still alive. Even if one Hitler dies, there are a million people ready to take his place. Jadwiga was silent for a moment.She leans on the broom.Later she said: The white-haired neighbor who lived on the ground floor told me that I could earn twenty-five yuan a week in the factory. you want to go to work I'm so lonely at home alone.But those factories are too far away.If it was nearer, I'd like to go to work. It's not close to anywhere in New York.You have to take the subway, otherwise you can't get anywhere. I do not know English. You can go to English class.If you want, I can register for you. The old lady said they don't accept people who can't even read the alphabet. I will teach you. when?You are always away. Hermann knew she was right.But at her age, learning is difficult.She was flushed and sweaty when she had to draw three little circles for her signature.Even the pronunciation of the simplest English words is difficult for her. Gradually Hermann understood her rural Polish, but sometimes at night, when she was in a rush of passion, she would babble words and expressions in rural language that he did not understand Way he had never heard of.Could this be the language of an ancient rural tribe?Perhaps it has been handed down from a time when there was no religion.Herman had long known that a man's head contained more than his life's experiences.Genetic elements seem to remember things from other centuries.Even Vojtus and Mariana have a language passed down from generation to generation of parakeets.The two apparently continued to talk, and they were always flying together in the same direction for a split second, suggesting that they understood each other's thoughts. But what about Hermann?He couldn't figure it out himself.He entangled himself in fanatical disputes.He is a liar, a sinner and a hypocrite.His sermons for Lamper Rabbi are a disgrace, a satire. He got up and went to the window.A few streets away, the sea was surging.From the Boardwalk to Breakers Boulevard came the buzz of a Coney Island summer morning.But on that little street between Mermaid Avenue and Poseidon Avenue, everything is quiet.The breeze blows, and there are several trees growing there.Birds are singing on the branches.With the tide came a fishy smell and an unidentifiable smell, a stench of decay.Hermann poked his head out of the window, and now he could see the hulks abandoned in the bend of the river.Shelled creatures cling to the black hull, half alive, half asleep. Hermann heard Jadwija ​​say reproachfully: The coffee is almost cold.Come back to the table! Four Hermann left the apartment and ran down the stairs.If he hadn't disappeared quickly, Jadwija ​​might have called him back.Every time he went out, she said goodbye to him as if the Nazis were running over America and his life was in danger.She pressed her hot cheek to his face and begged him to be careful about the car, don't forget to eat, and remember to call her.She clung to him as faithfully as a dog.Herman often teased her and called her a fool, but he could never forget the sacrifice she had made for him.Her frankness and devotion were compared to his cunning and habit of lying.Still, he couldn't stay with her day and night. The apartment where Hermann and Jadwija ​​live is an old building.Many of the refugees, elderly couples who needed fresh air for healthy relationships, had already settled there.They prayed and read Yiddish newspapers in a small synagogue nearby.On hot summer days, they moved their benches and folding stools outside and sat around talking about their homeland, their American children and grandchildren, the bankruptcy of financial institutions on Wall Street in 1929, and steam baths , vitamins, and Saratoga Springs [note: in Utah. 】Cure cases. Hermann occasionally wanted to socialize with these Jews and their wives, but the complexities of his own life made it necessary for him to avoid them.Now he hurried down the rickety stairs and turned sharply to the right, into the street, before they had time to stop him.It was too late for him to go to Lamper Rabbie's now. Herman's office was in a building on Twenty-third Street near Fourth Avenue.He could walk down Mermaid Boulevard, Splash Boulevard, or the boardwalk to Stilwell Boulevard and take the subway there.Each of these roads has its own attractions. Today he takes Mermaid Avenue.The road has an Eastern European flavor to it.Also posted on the wall is the list of choir leaders and rabbis announced last year, as well as price lists for hall seats for important festivals.From restaurants and cafeterias came the smell of chicken soup, polenta and sliced ​​liver.The bakery sells bagels and egg cookies, crepes and onion burritos.In front of a store, women are touching holo kimchi in buckets. Even though he never had a big appetite, the hunger during the Nazi years made him feel excited at the sight of food.The sun was shining on baskets and baskets of oranges, bananas, cherries, strawberries and tomatoes.Jews are allowed to live freely here!Signboards of Hebrew schools hang on the streets and alleys.There's even a Yiddish school.As Herman walked forward, he looked around, looking for a hiding place in case the Nazis came to New York one day.Is there anywhere nearby where I can dig a basement?Could he hide on the steeple of a Catholic church?He had never been a partisan, but now he often thought of the terrain from which he might shoot. On Stilwell Boulevard, Herman turned right, and the hot air blew toward him with the sweet smell of popcorn.The attractors ate and drank and persuaded people to go to the amusement park and watch acrobatics.There is a carousel, an indoor shooting range, and a wizard who can summon spirits for a fee of 5 cents.At the entrance of the subway, an Italian with swollen eyes held a long knife in his hand, banged on an iron bar, and shouted a word repeatedly, his voice turned into a loud noise.He was selling marshmallows and ice cream that melted as soon as it was placed in a cone.On the other side of the boardwalk, behind groups of people, the ocean glistens.Herman, who was all shabby and false in this spectacle of brilliance, material abundance, and freedom, was always amazed every time he saw it. He stepped into the subway, and passengers, mostly young men, poured out of train after train.Never before had Hermann seen such a savage face in Europe.But the young people here seem to be interested in pleasure rather than harm.The boys were running, screaming, jostling each other like rams.Many of them have dark eyes, low foreheads and short hair.There are Italians, Greeks and Puerto Ricans.Little girls with big hips and high breasts carried lunch bags, blankets for the sand, sunscreen and umbrellas to keep out the sun.They were laughing and chewing gum. Hermann walked up the steps of the elevated railway, and a moment later a train pulled into the station.As soon as the car door opened, he felt a rush of heat.The ventilator rumbled.Bare bulbs cast blinding light; newspapers and peanut shells were strewn across the red concrete floor.Several half-naked black children were shining the shoes of the passengers, kneeling on the ground like ancient idolaters. Someone had left a Yiddish newspaper on one of the seats, and Herman picked it up to read the headlines.In one of his talks, Stalin declared that communism and capitalism could coexist.In China, the Red Army and Chiang Kai-shek's armies are fighting fiercely.In the inner pages of the newspaper, the refugees described Majdanek, Treblinka, and Auschwitz. 】The horror.An escaped eyewitness wrote in a newspaper about a labor camp in the north of Russia where rabbis, socialists, liberals, priests, jewish patriots and trotskyists were mining gold , died of starvation and beriberi.Herman thought he was used to such horrors, yet he was still appalled by each new atrocity.The end of this article predicts that one day the world will establish a system based on equality and justice, and this system will cure the world's ills. What?Are they still keen on healing?Hermann threw the newspaper on the floor.Words like a better world, a brighter tomorrow were like insults to the corpse of a tortured man to him.He gets angry when he hears the cliché that those who die don't die in vain.But what can I do?I try my best to do evil. Herman opened his briefcase, took out a manuscript, and took notes while reading it.His means of earning a living were as bizarre as everything else he encountered.He was a rabbi's ghostwriter.He also promised a better world in Eden. Herman read with a distorted face.That rabbi betrayed God like he betrayed the idols of other gods.Hermann could only find one reason for his own defense: the vast majority of people who listened to the rabbi and read his articles were not really honest people.Modern Judaism has one goal: to imitate non-Jews. The doors of the train opened and closed, closed and opened again, each time Hermann looked up.There are definitely Nazis hanging out in New York City.The Allies have officially announced amnesty for 750,000 petty Nazis.The promise to bring the murderer to trial was a lie from the start.Who will judge whom?Their trial was a sham.Herman lacked the courage to commit suicide, so he had no choice but to live like a wretch without seeing, hearing, or thinking. Hermann was supposed to change from express to local at Union Square and get off at Twenty-third Street, but when he looked out the window, he saw that the train had reached Thirty-fourth Street.He walked up the ladder to the opposite platform and boarded a train for the city.But again he missed the station and sat too far down Canal Street. These mistakes he made on the subway, his habit of putting things away and forgetting where they put them, his constant taking the wrong way, losing manuscripts, books, and notebooks, all these things haunted him like a plague.He was always looking in his pockets for his lost things.He would lose his fountain pen or his sunglasses; his wallet would disappear; he would forget even his phone number.He bought an umbrella and left it somewhere that day.He puts on a pair of galoshes, but loses them within hours.Sometimes he fancied it was imps and goblins playing tricks on him.Finally, he came to the office, which was located in a building owned by the rabbi. five Milton.Lampert Rabbi has no congregation.He has published articles in Hebrew-language magazines in Israel and contributed to English-Jewish publications in the United States and the United Kingdom.He has book contracts with several publishers.He was invited to give lectures in public halls and even universities.Rabbis did not have the time or patience to study and write.He made his fortune in real estate.He owns six nursing homes, in Balleye Park and Williamsburg [Note: Located on the Virginia Peninsula of Virginia, USA. ] has built several apartment complexes and is a partner in a construction company that undertakes million-dollar housing projects.He had an elderly secretary, Mrs. Regard, whom he employed despite her inefficiency.He and his wife lived apart in the past, but now they are living together again. The rabbi called Herman a study for his work.In fact, Hermann wrote books, articles and speeches for him.Herman wrote in Hebrew or Yiddish, and someone else translated them into English, and a third person edited them. Hermann has worked for Lampert Rabbi for several years.The rabbi has a variety of personalities: thick-skinned, good-hearted, sentimental, cunning, arrogant, and simple. He can remember the obscure annotations in "Shulkan︱Aluq", but in quoting the "Five Books of Moses" Words are often wrong.He traded securities, gambled, and raised money for various charities.He was six feet tall, potbellied, and weighed two hundred and sixty pounds.He plays the part of Don Juan, but it doesn't take long for Hermann to see that rabbis are not meant to be with women.He was still searching for true love, and was often embarrassed in this seemingly hopeless search.It got so bad that he was once punched in the nose by a husband who was staying in an Atlantic City hotel.He's constantly making ends meet, or at least that's what he says on his tax returns.He goes to bed at two in the evening and wakes up at seven in the morning.He ate two pounds of beef, smoked Havanas, and drank champagne.His blood pressure was alarmingly high, and his doctor repeatedly warned him to watch out for heart failure.He was sixty-four years old and still full of energy, and he had a reputation as a spunky rabbi.He was a rabbi in an army during World War II, and he boasted to Hermann that he was then a colonel. As soon as Herman stepped through the door of the office, the phone rang.He picked up the phone, and immediately the rabbi's deep and powerful bass came from the other end of the phone line, yelling at him.Where the hell have you been?You should be here first thing this morning!Where is the report I'm going to give in Atlantic City?You forgot that I had to look it over, apart from the things I had to do.What does it mean when you move into a house without a phone?Anyone who works for me, I want to be able to find him, and I will never allow him to stay in a hole like a mouse!Aha, you're still a new immigrant!This is New York, not Zivkov!America is a free country; you don't have to hide here.Unless you're doing something illegal to make money, or who knows what you're doing!I'm telling you for the last time today to get a phone where you live or you're out of it.You wait, I'll come right over.I have something to talk to you about.Wait don't go away!Lamper Rabbi hung up the phone. Hermann quickly wrote in lowercase letters.When he first met the rabbi, he dared not admit that he was married to a Polish countryman.他說他是個鰥夫，在一位貧困的同鄉朋友一個裁縫那兒租了間狹小的屋子，裁縫家沒有電話。赫爾曼在布魯克林的電話戶名是雅德維珈．普賴克茲。 蘭拍特拉比經常問他能不能到裁縫家去拜訪他。駕著他的凱迪拉克，在一個貧民區的街上駛來駛去，這使他感到特別高興。他也很欣賞自己肥胖的身軀和漂亮的衣著給人留下的印象。他喜歡做好事為貧困的人找工作，給慈善機構寫接納他們的推薦信。赫爾曼迄今為止總算沒讓拉比上他家。他解釋說，裁縫怕見生人，再說他曾在集中營關押過，神經有點兒不正常，也許不讓拉比進屋呢。有時，赫爾曼隨便說到裁縫的妻子是個瘸子，兩口子沒有孩子，以此打消拉比的興致。拉比喜歡有女兒的家庭。 拉比一再對赫爾曼講他應該搬家。他甚至給赫爾曼介紹對象。他提出在他自己擁有的房屋中撥出一套公寓給赫爾曼。赫爾曼解釋說那個老裁縫在齊甫凱夫救過他的命，需要赫爾曼付給他的那幾塊房租錢。謊言一個接一個。拉比作演講、寫文章反對不同的民族通婚。赫爾曼自己在為拉比寫文章中也不得不再三闡述這個問題，告誡不要和以色列的敵人攙和在一起。 他的一些行為怎麼能解釋得通呢？他已經對猶太教、對美國法律和道德犯下了罪行。他不僅欺騙拉比，而且欺騙瑪莎。但是他不得不這麼做。雅德維珈的極端善良使他煩惱，跟她說話的時候，他好像不是人似的。瑪莎的性格複雜、固執而且神經質，赫爾曼也不能告訴她真相。他已使瑪莎相信，雅德維珈性冷淡，還賭咒發誓地說，等她和丈夫里昂．托特希納一離婚，他馬上離開雅德維珈。 赫爾曼聽到沉重的腳步聲，拉比打開門。他是個身材魁梧的大個子，正好穿過門洞子，他臉色紅潤，長著厚嘴唇、鷹鉤鼻、一雙鼓出的黑眼睛。他穿著一套淺色衣服，黃皮鞋，繫著金線縫的領帶，上面別著一枚珍珠別針。他的嘴裡叼著一支長雪茄。黑裡夾灰的頭髮從他戴著的巴拿馬帽子下突出來。手腕上，紅的寶石鏈扣閃閃發光，左手一枚刻著名字的鑽石戒指光彩奪目。 他把雪茄從嘴裡拿出來，把菸灰撣在地上，大聲叫道：現在你才開始寫。前幾天你就該準備好了！我可不能像這麼著等到最後一分鐘。你都胡亂寫了些什麼啊？稿子看起來已經太長了。這是一次拉比的會議，不是齊甫凱夫的長老會議！這兒是美國，不是波蘭。嗯，你那篇論述巴爾．希姆的文章寫得怎麼樣了？應該寄出去了。交稿期已經到了！如果你幹不了，請你告訴我，我會另外找個人或者我用錄音機把我的話錄下，讓里加爾太太打出來。 一切都將在今天完成。 把你寫好的稿子給我，還有，你一定要把住址告訴我。你住在哪兒？住在地獄裡？住在阿斯莫丟斯【註：惡魔。】的城堡裡？我開始懷疑你在什麼地方有個老婆，而你瞞著不讓我知道。 赫爾曼覺得口乾。我巴不得有個老婆。 你如果想結婚，你可以要一個嘛。我給你介紹過一個漂亮女人，可你連面都不願見。你怕什麼呀？沒有人會硬把你拖到結婚的華蓋下的。好了，你的地址呢？ 說實在的，這就不必了。 你一定得把地址告訴我。我的通訊簿就在這兒。How about it? 赫爾曼把自己在布朗克斯的地址告訴了他。 你房東的名字？ 喬．普賴克茲。 普羅茨奇。一個少有的名字。怎麼寫？我會給他們安一架電話，告訴他們把帳單送到我這兒辦公室來。 你不能不經他同意就去安裝。 這跟他有什麼相干？ 他害怕電話鈴聲，這會使他想起集中營。 還有別的難民嘛，他們不都裝了電話。把電話安在你房間裡。這樣他就會覺得好多了。如果他有病，就能請醫生，或是請人幫忙。神經病！madman!我們每隔幾年要打一仗；希特勒的興起，這就是原因。我認為你每天一定得在辦公室待六小時那是我們都同意了的。我付房租，為了能少付一些稅款。如果一個辦公室老是鎖著，那就不叫辦公室了。沒有你，我的麻煩已經夠多了。 蘭珀特拉比停了一下，然後又說：我希望咱倆做個朋友，但是你的一些事情卻妨礙了這點。我可以給你很多幫助，而你卻像個牡蠣，把自己藏起來。你在心底到底隱藏了些什麼？ 赫爾曼沒有立即回答。凡是有過我這種經歷的人，已不再是這個世界的一分子了，他最後說道。 胡說，蠢話。你跟我們其他人一樣是這個世界的一分子。你可能有過上千次離死亡只差一步，但是只要你還活著，要吃飯、要走路，對不起，還要上廁所，那麼你就像其他人一樣有血有肉。我認識幾百個集中營裡出來的人，其中有些人當初真的已在走向焚化爐。他們現在就在美國這兒，他們開汽車、做生意。你或者是在另一個世界上，或者是在這個世界上。你不可能一隻腳站在地上，而另一隻腳站在天空中。你在扮演一個角色，就是這樣。但是為什麼呢？你特別應該對我開誠布公。 我是開誠布公的。 什麼事使你煩惱？是病了嗎？ 不，真的不是。 可能你陽萎吧？那都是因為神經緊張，不是生理性的。 我不陽萎。 那是怎麼啦？好吧，我不會把我的友情強加在你的身上。不過，今天我會打電話去，要他們給你安一架電話。 請再等一等。 Why?一架電話又不是一個納粹；它不會吃人。如果你神經過敏，找個醫生給看看。也許你需要一位精神分析醫生。你別怕，這不是說你瘋了。最健全的人也去找他們的。就是我，有一段時間也找過精神分析醫生。我有個朋友，叫貝爾霍夫斯基醫生，從華沙來的。如果我介紹你到他那兒去看病，他不會向你收太多的錢的。 說真的，拉比，我沒有病。 是啊，沒病。我妻子也堅持認為自己沒病，不過她仍然是個病人。她打開煤氣爐，自己就上街買東西去了。她在澡盆裡放水，把一條毛巾忘在澡盆裡，堵住了排水管。我坐在辦公桌旁，忽然看見地毯上有一灘水。我問她為什麼要幹出這些事情，她變得歇斯底里起來，還咒罵我。這就是為什麼有精神病醫生的原因在我們病得太厲害，不得不送瘋人院以前幫助我們。 是啊，是啊。 嗯，全是廢話。讓我瞧瞧你都寫了些什麼。