"The barracks of the Military Hospital No. 24 were located on the city's edge." "Its patients were blind or lame." "They limped." "They were awaiting amputation or had already been amputated." "War was far behind them." "Their peace with the enemy was made." "They were yet preparing for another war." "Against pain, against lame limbs, sleepless nights and against the healthy." "Gunner Pum reporting:" "All residents of barracks 7 lined up!" "Only Andreas Pum was happy with the situation." "He had lost one leg and earned a medal." "He believed in a righteous God who dispensed both amputations and awards according to one's merit." "Viewed in the correct light, the loss of a leg isn't too severe while the joy for receiving decorations is considerable." "Off to the next inspection of meat!" "This impudence!" "Do not get mad, Andreas." "We are all poor guys here." "Princess Mathilde will be quite happy now." "She, too, had a hard day." "She visits four hospitals each day." "There are already more hospitals than princesses." "And more sick than healthy." "Even the seemingly healthy are sick." "They only don't know yet." "Maybe they will soon make peace." "Good cigarettes, doctor!" "Andreas Pum didn't understand what the other one was saying" "He wanted to object but couldn't produce any arguments." "If only we'll win the war..." "Everyone will lose." "Thank you." "Once the borders are open again I'm going far away." "There will be nothing left of Europe." "Private Lang spoke like a clergyman but also like a pagan." "Pagan seemed the best term for someone resisting everything governmental." "Andreas Pum was very glad the word pagan came to his mind releasing him from the duty of thinking further." "Fanny is having another baby." "The sixth one." "You really got to wonder why they couldn't be smart, at least once" "...You have no idea what that means so the child's got a name at least in case he doesn't return..." "Andreas had no family." "When others had visitors, he took a book from the hospital library or tried to imagine what the next years of his life would look like." "He had often been close to getting married." "But the fear of earning too little to support a family had prevented him from proposing to Annie the cook," "Amalie the seamstress, Poldi the nanny." "...the working capability of each individual." "And anyway the doctors put it into simple words:" "Only shell shocked soldiers may stay." "The others receive money." "Or perhaps a licence for a street organ." " How much money?" "Andreas had already heard of the commission and began to regret that he wasn't shell shocked." "The commission didn't eventuate for the time being." "Instead disorder arrived, downfall, revolution." "In the cities the rioters were fired upon." "It seemed they wanted to abolish the government." "They were bad and foolish." "They were shot." "They deserved it." "They were pagans." "Andreas Pum calmed down only after reading in the papers, learning from the events and the people's speeches that in a republic, too, a government decides on the fate of the country." "Three days before the Commission's arrival," "Andreas headed to barracks of Bossi." "Bossi was a blacksmith." "Bossi was the only shell shocked among the 156 patients of hospital No. 24." "...came...to me shod...in iron out...of...question..." "Andreas Pum!" " Another shell shocked soldier." " Chair!" "Licence!" "When he began to pack his stuff, the shaking stopped." "He waited in the bathroom until all his comrades had left." "He only thought: a miracle has happened." "A miracle has happened." "A healthy man would've walked half an hour from the hospital to the last tram station." "When Andreas arrived there, the people in the tram made room for him." "He chose the best of the seats offered to him." "He went to a hospice known to him." "You will take much pleasure in it!" "I'm sure of it." "Come here, please." "Watch." "Here you have a roll, and here is the piano." "Your organ has eight songs, eight tunes." "Here is a list of all eight tunes." "Observe." "This is the setting lever." "And this is the meter for the roller." "And here we regulate the roller." "Left or right." "The street organ was manufactured by Dreccoli  Co." "It was cube-shaped and was placed on a wooden rack, foldable and portable." "On the left side of the instrument were the levers, the meter and the shaft." "They were used to regulate the melody." "The organ contained eight rolls." "Among them were the national anthem and the Loreley." "Here you are." "Just try it." "Licence!" "Hurry up, will you!" " Stop whistling!" " Me?" "Haven't I met you before?" "I do not think so." "Why?" "If you want to get cheeky, you can come with me!" "I don't want to get cheeky, Inspector." " It's alright." " Thanks, Inspector." "You're new, aren't you?" "I've never seen you before." "Yes." "You live in the hospice?" "Not really comfortable, huh?" " Since when?" " A couple of days." " I have a bedstead left." " How much is it?" "Willi was an unemployed cutting machine operator." "He only worked once a week, and even then not in his profession." "He pulled a handcart through the streets and bought old newspaper." "In the evening he sold his goods to the dealer." "He received one third for each pound." "It was clear he couldn't live on these earnings." "He lived off Klara." "She was an assistant cashier in a small cafe but had some additional income." "She got home after midnight." "The view is included." "To be clear: this is a bedstead, no flat." "You leave at eight in the morning and come back when it's dark outside." " Alright." " There must be order." "Andreas' eyes were searching for his new roommate's breasts." "And his heart was pounding in hope that one shoulder strap would slip." "Then he heard kisses and embraces and fell asleep, dreaming of vigorous widows with broad hips and voluptuous breasts." "Andreas would've liked to find a woman before the winter, one of those vigilant and assertive female porters from which he always had to flee while still sensing their imposing posture." "To imagine such a woman being his own... that gave him strength, courage, confidence and made the winter a child's play." "It happened in Pestalozzi Street, in the courtyard of the house No. 37, that Andreas Pum was overcome by the desire to play a march." "Maybe because the increasing exhaustion of the day demanded a stirring break." "Andreas adjusted the lever of his barrel organ to the National Anthem and turned the crank so rapidly that the solemn tones lost their gentle magnificence, started to bounce hastily, forgot the breaks and really bore a remote resemblance to the melody of a march." "My dear Gustav passed away yesterday." "Play something melancholic." "With the greatest of pleasure." "Andreas had briefly struggled between the" "Loreley and "The Youth by the Spring"." "He chose the Loreley because he assumed the widow would know it." "This assumption proved to be true." "The widow, who had withdrawn to her room to enjoy the melancholic tune more comfortably by her window, started singing." "She tried to get ahead of the instrument's sounds as if driven by impatience and ambition to give prove to herself and the listeners that she knew the melody by heart while Andreas thought a special slowness was necessary and rotated the crank gently to emphasize the song's melancholy." "Also he was in that mood that seizes us in the crucial moments of our lives and that we like to give in to through a terrific festiveness." " Thanks." " My surname is Blumich, born Vorgo." "Come back after the funeral." "My condolences, Mrs. Blumich." "That day he didn't play any longer." "If you're that late again tomorrow, I'll smash your barrel organ." "You have to arrive on the dot." "There must be order." "Help yourself, Mr. Willi." "Be in time tomorrow!" " I met a woman today." " Congratulations!" "A widow by the name of Blumich." "So?" "Young?" " Yes...young." " Lucky you!" "Her husband died yesterday." " And already...?" " No..." "Hurry up, my friend!" " Widows don't wait a long time." " What?" "Widows." "Don't wait a long time." "Andreas remembered these words." "Maybe it would be helpful or even necessary out of decency to attend the funeral." "But maybe it wasn't regarding the neighbours." "And maybe it wasn't even alright with Mrs. Blumich?" "It almost hurt that he didn't know her first name." "The longer he thought of her the more familiar she seemed." "He believed that no one in the world was as close as she although he didn't have any proof of it." "Wasn't it due to the sorrow for the recently lost husband that he, Andreas, had to thank for her acquaintance and her kindness?" "Did a woman forgot so easily?" "And was she able to do?" "Was she still worthwhile?" "Who knew the women?" "Who knows how long her husband had been ill, a living corpse?" "How long the poor thing had to suppress her natural joy of living?" "Andreas shook in pity." "In love affairs he was no longer an inexperienced boy, and right now, after a long abstinence, he was filled with promising vigour." "He was the right man to satisfy a demanding widow." " Happy hunting!" " Thank you." "Along the way it occurred to him that he didn't shave often enough." "That triumphant recklessness to which we succumb in confidence of a capture also grasped Andreas and he went to a hairdresser." "Concerns only overtook him on the street near the house no. 37" "What would she think if he appeared before her like that, after seeing him in his usual state yesterday?" "Maybe it wasn't beneficial to visit the widow Blumich today." "One would also have to feel ashamed for the dead man who wasn't yet buried." "Moreover, she had only told him to come tomorrow." "That day Andreas Pum had been more lucky than ever before." "There was no doubt:" "Luck had finally entered his life at the same time as the widow Blumich." "Come in and continue playing inside." "This is my daughter Anna." "Hello, Anna." " What is your name?" " Excuse me." "Pum." "Andreas Pum." "Sit down, Mr. Andreas." " Help yourself!" " Thank you." "Take this with you." "Please." "Thank you." "She's a nice kid." "Yes." "She's good and quiet." " Must've been hard for her." " Yes." " How old is she?" " Six." "Back then her father was still a soldier." "I cared for him." "You can imagine that." "If he had died in the war the pain might be smaller." "And there would be no child." "A fatherless child!" "You don't know how a single woman lives in this world." "All alone!" "You couldn't know it." "My dear mother was also a young widow." " And she never married again?" " Yes." "She took a plumber." " Was he good?" " Yes." "Very good." " Is he still alive?" " No." "They both died in the war." " Both in the war?" " Yes." "Both of them." "Well, if one is happy that way and the second man is also a good, faithful companion..." "I will always be faithful to you." " Really?" " As sure as I sit here." "Where do you live?" "In a pension." "It's only due to the people." "Otherwise we could already move in together tomorrow." "We should wait...four weeks." "That long?" "That long?" "!" "But what must be, must be." "What a lucky man Andreas was." "How many of his kind were anxiously waiting for the winter?" "But he, Andreas Pum, among thousands of invalids, was chosen by the widow Katharina Blumich." " Good evening, Inspector!" "Andreas wasn't yet aware of his rival who could be called a dangerous one in consideration of his profession." "It was the young man who lived in the house No. 37." "Police inspector Vinzenz Topp, seductive from tip to toe." "Two weeks passed." "All their days concluded with an afternoon at the widow Kathi Blumich's home with coffee and whispered talking about love." "This wasn't about vain, awkward, passionate and babbled love oaths at all but pursued practical purposes and proofed the great upsides of female wisdom that never lacks in elegance." "We'll expand our business." "We'll buy a small donkey and put your box on a cart." "What name will we give the donkey?" "Name..." "Lynx?" " Isn't Lynx a dog's name?" " Well, that's true." " Muli." " Muli." "That's great!" "Okay." "Autumn's approaching." "You can already stay here today." "With this weather you wouldn't send a dog out into the streets." "The next morning Andreas moved in." "He bid farewell to Willie and left Klara his regards." "Willie accompanied him and carried his suitcase to the tram." "Andreas was happy." "A heavenly woman warmed his bed and turned it into paradise." "No pain reminded him of the missing leg." "In the newly padded crutch the stump was bedded warmly, as in a loving woman's palm." "The morning was initiated by the steaming cup of coffee, the day was concluded by a hot meal." "Buttered breads accompanied him on his ways, as his wife's regards did." "At dusk, Anni, the pale, big-eyed child would sit on his good knee." "Andreas explained to her the meaning of the images on the street organ." "Slowly and as an expansive, benevolent, healing warmth love was spreading inside him." "On one of the first days of November they married." "For the last time in this autumn the sun was shining so warmly that one could stand in front of the church, as freely and lightly as in the spring and that little Anni wasn't cold in her thin white muslin dress." "She looked like a little bride." "Attention!" "They're waiting for their pension." "The invalid's hardship knows no boundaries." "...increased to four crowns a day and for that we even pay them their pension..." "Among them, surely there are some that aren't really disabled." "Andreas shared the people's view." "He despised the rebels." "They wanted to abolish the government." "Wasn't this justice?" "How should the government take care of its enemies?" "They were nothing but pagans." "This afternoon Andreas had left his street organ and the donkey at home." "Suddenly, he felt such fatigue that when it began to rain he decided to use the tram despite his thriftiness." "Stop shoving!" "For god's sake!" "Take care with that umbrella!" "You could gouge someone's eyes out!" " Come on, go to the other end!" " Where is the conductor?" "Andreas tried to pass the immobile man through the other door." "He finally succeed with a little help from someone pushing him." "Excuse me, could you let me pass?" "It happened for the first time in Andreas' life that the face of a well-dressed gentleman seemed unlikeable to him and the physical intactness of this particular man annoyed him." "It was as if he noticed just now he was a cripple and the others were healthy." "These invalids are dangerous malingerers." "I was at their meeting and have seen it." "The blind aren't blind, and the lame aren't lame." "It's just a scam." "They're all Bolsheviks." "Neither the one-legged are one-legged." "They do it quite easily." "Like this." " You!" "Fat belly!" " You malingerer!" "Bolshevik!" "Andreas didn't know how he got to this shout." "He had never screamed that loud before." "Make room, please." "Must be a Jew..." "Move up, please!" "What's going on here?" "Your ID papers, please!" "So?" "Will you?" "I won't let you command me." "Leave the car, then." " And if I don't want to?" " Leave the car immediately!" " I won't go!" " Come!" "The people gathered on the street." "Suddenly, like a fakir's miracle, a police officer appeared among them." "Get out!" "Get that one out first!" "You are not to command here!" "In the name of the law, get out!" "Your ID!" "I only asked this man to show his ID, just like you." "He refused." "Then I ordered him to leave the car and he got rough." "I know my instructions, Inspector." "He's a Bolshevik." "I heard him agitating at the invalids' meeting." "Liar!" "Andreas came home." "He told his wife everything." "On his way home a faint hope had penetrated his outrage." "Hope for the wisdom, the kindness, the love of his wife." "That's how you thank me for accommodating you!" "You walk around and live by the labour of my hands!" "Yes, by the labour of my hands!" "And you start a fight and lose your licence!" "Have you gone completely mad?" "!" "I could've had ten healthy men for each finger!" "Instead of such a...cripple!" "Who gives no protection and no joy!" "Andreas turned pale." "He swam in the middle of a great ocean." "He clutched the chair as if it was a saving plank." "They will jail you, it will be bread and water!" "And I have to walk around with your name!" "Yuck, yuck, yuck!" "Lady Katharina spat three times." "Once she hit her husband's pants." "Trembling, he wiped off his wife's spit." "What you're standing here for?" "Set up the vase!" "Set up the vase!" "Move!" "Nice mess..." "And this had to happen to me..." "Miserable cripple!" "What you're standing around for?" "Go to bed and sleep!" "It's late enough." "Good evening, Inspector!" " Please excuse this late disturbance." " Dear Madam, I beg your pardon." " I didn't expect such a pleasant visit." " I wanted to ask for legal advice." "With pleasure." "Please come in." "In the past, the police officer Vinzenz Topp had frequently darted one of these adventurous but still dignified glances at Katharina Blumich which was appreciated by every woman." "But Katharina had never given in to the illusion to bind such a young and handsome man permanently and exclusively to herself." "So she had renounced the police officer Vinzenz Topp in favour of the - as she had thought - reliable war invalid Andreas Pum." "Muli." "My donkey." "Mum is not here." "Play something." "Please." "Andreas Pum?" "Summons." "Sign here." "For the first time Andreas Pum was described as an accused, a word that - when written by a court - almost sounded like convicted." "He went over to the church of yellow bricks where he hadn't been since his wedding and recited 3, 4 Lord's Prayers with the same thin voice with which he used to pray before classes as a schoolboy." "He returned and met a stranger in his room." "I'm waiting for your wife." "You'll excuse me." "Andreas observed the man with hostility even though he neither knew him nor understood what he was talking about." "Surely he was here for some sinister reason." "Andreas sensed it." "He made an effort to guess the reason for this appointment, but failed at it." "Constantly on the road and always in time." "That's my motto." "Katharina entered." " I salute you most humbly!" "She was red in the face and smelled of a female hairdresser's salon." "You'll stay inside." "Otherwise you'll catch a chill again." "Andreas followed them." "His heart was beating heavily, almost bursting his chest." "Leaning against the door he watched them come to an agreement." " Yes, a donkey, but such a small one!" " But a donkey is not a camel!" "The day on which Andreas was to appear in court started like an ordinary day." "Andreas spent the night on the sofa, dressed and without pillow." "He thought up a great speech which would have the effect that they'd apologize to him and imprison this man, the policeman and the conductor." "Yes?" "Are you Andreas Pum?" " Yes." "Crime agent Huber." "I have to take you to the police interrogation." "Isn't that at 10h?" " No, why?" "This is a summons to the court, that's not our business." " I don't understand." "There is the judge and there is the police and you have to follow me to the station." "Show the summons to the commissioner." "Duty is duty." "I have the same opinion." "Indeed, many invalids are malingerers." "I often saw it." "They don't want to work." "Too many are against the government and seek to blame the others." " Nothing happens to you!" " Of course." "Excuse me," "I have a court summons." "I have to be there at 10h." "Now it is 9:30h." " What is this, again?" "The officer said I have to tell it to the commissioner." "I agree." "Wait for the commissioner." "Andreas Pum!" "Your name." "I have a summons, please." " I know." "Answer when you're asked!" "The report available to me shows that you..." "The commissioner started to read the policeman's report." "...then you refused to show your licence." "Only when the policeman requested you..." " Excuse me, Mr. Commissioner..." "I already told you only to talk..." " But Mr. Commissioner..." "I have a summons to the court." "At 10h." "If you'll excuse me..." "It's too late." "Why didn't you tell me immediately?" "What shall I do now?" "Now we'll finish with you first." "How long?" "Are you deaf?" "Are you stupid, or what?" "That's absolutely none of your business!" "An impertinence!" "An impertinence!" "Andreas felt that blood was rushing into his face." "Guard!" "Andreas heard his shout but only muted and faint." "Red wheels spun before his eyes." "24 hours." "Licence rescinded!" "While Andreas was brought into detention all thoughts vanished from his mind." "It was as if his brain leaked." "A painful void emerged in his head." "So, why are you standing?" "There's enough space for better people." "Are you an invalid?" "Yes." "What are you wearing that tin on your chest for?" "I don't know." "You've got a cigarette?" "Yes." "I have five left." "Let's smoke them together." "You're new, huh?" " Yes." "Remove that piece of tin." "What tin?" "A consolation prize." "When Andreas entered the streets he didn't feel at home in them anymore." "He didn't wear a cross anymore." "And, as if he felt the need to replace the medal of his old life with a new one, he mulled over the word pagan which he'd used so often and differently which suddenly had a new meaning" "and awarded it to himself like a medal." "Andreas declared himself a pagan." "He already numbered himself among the outlaw's guild." "His step grew timid and his eyes vigilant when a policeman passed by." "There you go again." "Where's your grand piano?" "Then they condemned you for sure!" " How so?" "Because you didn't appear." "The court doesn't know of the police's business and the other way round." "If they send you a summons as an accused and you don't appear then you have to start your penalty the next day by default." "That's how it works!" "And if the officer claims you hit him?" "You'll have to expect six weeks." "But no, you stay here." "We'll see if they can find you." "So you've lost everything at once." "Easy come, easy go." "Don't start anything with the court." "Serve your six weeks." "Are you crazy?" "!" "In the morning two detectives came." "They hadn't found him with his wife so they got his old address from her." "They took him to the suburban line." "And a bit farther out the town." "The penitentiary was among broad fields, dominating the land like a brick-built law." "The last thing Andreas saw of the world was a young kitten." "It might have belonged to a guard." "With a bell around the neck it walked along fence that separated the House of Justice from the dirty lane." "It reminded him of a little girl." "Up already?" " My foot hurts so badly." "No permission to go out today." "What's going on here?" "Come down immediately!" "It's alright, bring a ladder." "I want to give those poor sparrows some breadcrumbs." "How did you come up with that?" " I'm sorry for them." "Don't make the people laugh." "The Lord cares for the birds already." "Eat that expensive bread yourself." "Now, get down." "And quick." "Are you sure that God cares for the birds?" "It is forbidden to bring the ladders into the cells." "If you're sick in the brain, you have to contact the doctor." "Can write it down for you so you'll get a visit." "If the director allows it you can feed the birds." "But you have to write a request." "I want to write a request." "Andreas composed the request." "The guard helped him with the director's permission." ""To the venerable administration " "The undersigned seeks permission to deposit bread and leftovers on the windows of his cell for sparrows and birds of different species once a day." "Signature:" "Andreas Pum, currently inmate." "The request was rejected." "Masses of sparrows came to the cell's window each day as if they wanted to remind Andreas of his promise." "That hurt him." "He looked above and painfully watched the noisy little creatures." "He delivered mute speeches, talking to the animals without moving his lips." "My dear little birds." "For decades I was alien to you." "Surely, I heard you tweet." "But I was indifferent like I was to a bumblebee's buzzing." "I didn't know that you might be hungry." "I barely knew the people, my own kind, were hungry." "I barely knew what's pain even though I fought in the war and lost a leg." "Possibly I wasn't a human being." "Or I was sick with a sleeping heart." "Such a thing exists." "The heart's sleeping a long sleep." "It ticks and tocks but it's as if dead apart from that." "Little birds, do not be angry." "Look." "I wanted to give you a bit of my bread, but the order prohibits it." "That's what humans call prison." "Do you know order, little birds?" "One day Andreas was released." "Who's the one I hear?" " Hello." "You don't look healthy." "Come in." "What did they do to you?" "Come, sit down." " Why?" " What do you mean by that, 'why'?" " What did they do?" "Don't ask stupid questions." "Just look at yourself." " Why?" "You're kidding me?" "Just look at yourself." "Well, it's nothing we can't fix." "Let's first have a welcome drink." "Cheers!" "Chug it?" "So." "And what do you say about me?" "Impressive." "Been successfully betting on horses?" " Oh, come on!" "Betting is no good for a secure existence." "It's not solid." " So?" "It's a matter of smarts." "And to have a good sense for opportunity." "You understand?" "What's most important about a sieve?" "The holes." "The same goes for economy." "You just have to find the holes." "You understand?" "Take a look around." "Nothing catches your eyes?" "[Soap]" "What's that?" "In front of you stands the boss of the business that cares for every toilet and wardrobe of Vienna's coffee houses." "Lady's and gentlemen's toilets, that's understood." "You're gobsmacked, eh?" "How did you come up with that?" "Fell into place." "Nobody's been that clever before me." "And Klara?" " She's my secretary." "Last week I rented an office and bought a typewriter." "Now she's learning how to type." "Alright." "I'll tell you all the details anyway." "It's time for my inspection round." "Otherwise there's standstill, you see?" "But I've come up with something for you, too." "I won't let an old friend go to waste." " Where's your new uniform?" "At home." "With her." "So you can get it in the meantime." "Alright, we'll get it tomorrow." "Together." "Now you make yourself comfortable, eat something, drink something." "You know where to find it." "By the way, I'm called Klinckowström now." "So long." "In the evening they visited the furnished room which Willi had rented in the noblest quarter of the city." "Andreas had to vow that he'd never reveal Willi's past to anyone." "From now on he had to be addressed as Sir von Klinckowström." "He had obtained the military ID of a soldier of that name and on that basis he had received the permit for his new profession." "Where is it?" " Over there." "Don't you want to come with me?" "You get out with me and stay with the car." "When I call you, come and take the stuff." "Annie, come here!" "She sold the street organ." "I told her I'll press charges." "There must be order." "Go!" "Lowlifes!" "Be happy you got rid of them!" "You'll sew that on." "Wait..." "Go, take a look!" "There we are." "Take out the bird and tie it to the perch." "And teach him how to speak!" "That boosts revenue." "Investments must pay off!" "The parrot likes to tell dirty jokes." "Toilet paper and soap only in exchange for cash!" "The prices are on the list." "If they don't pay, let them use a newspaper." "You cut into small pieces what they give you and put it next to the toilets." "So...please sign that." "That's the inventory." "We'll balance the account on the 1st." "Alright, Ignaz." "Time to sleep." "Now Andreas lived alone in Willi's old apartment." "With Klara he had moved into two elegant rooms next to the office." "Andreas didn't like being alone at home so he asked for permission to take the parrot with him overnight." "Andreas' health was declining" "After every cough attack he felt weak, like a feverish child." "The spot on the knee ached." "The bolstering of his crutch should have been renewed a long time ago." "The back ached as well, for inexplicable reasons." "The gout bent his fingers and severe pain pressed his chest." "The heart seemed to stop for seconds and Andreas thought he was dead already." "Then he woke up, startled that he was still alive." "Andreas Pum?" " Yes?" "Summons to the court." "Sign here." "Thanks." "Andreas received another appointment at 10h in the morning." "In the meantime, the April days outside got warmer, rainy and like sweet promises." "Andreas' aches got more intense." "Today he forgot what happened yesterday." "A bell tower struck 10 o'clock." "Andreas remembered that he was told to appear at this hour." "Another bell repeated the ten strokes." "With sustained, wailing tones a third one chimed in." "All the city's towers threw their bell sounds down on the copper roofs." "Andreas remembered his pain again and prepared a huge prosecution speech for the court." "May I have the soap?" "Andreas was eagerly awaiting the outcome of the trial." "On a bench in the hallway he saw his wife Katharina, little Annie, the man from the tram and oddly enough he also saw the dealer who bought the donkey." "These were the witnesses." "But where were the police officer and the conductor?" "Andreas started to speak." "He began with a description of the scene on the tram." "But the judge reached out his hand and made a fending gesture." "At the same time his voice, soft and low, resonated although he didn't move his lips at all." "Andreas, what's on your mind?" "Andreas remembered the speech he had prepared for the trial." "Terrible anger grew inside of him." "His face was aflame." "And his soul gave birth to furious, crimson words." "They were sleeping deep inside him, held back by pathetic reason, withered within the harsh shell of his life." "Now they fell off, like blossoms from a tree." "If I didn't stand in front of you, oh Lord, I would deny you." "But since my eyes see you and my ears hear you," "I have to do something more sinister than deny you:" "I have to blaspheme!" "You father millions of my kind with your fertile senselessness." "They suffer blows in your name, starve and keep silent." "Their children wither." "Their feet get stuck in the thicket of your commandments." "They fall and beg to you and you don't pick them up." "You let others, whom you love and nurture, castigate us." "You release them from righteousness and humility, so they can betray us." "But you are there without lifting a finger." "I rebel against you, not against them." "Do we have to suffer?" "Why don't we all suffer equally?" "Do you have millions of worlds and don't know what to do?" "What kind of a god are you?" "!" "I'm a sinner and wanted to do good." "Why didn't you let me feed the little birds?" "If you've feed them yourself, then you feed them poorly." "Oh, I wish I could deny you!" "But you're there." "Almighty, relentless, eternally." "And there is no hope that you'll be punished." "That you'll get blown to a cloud by death." "That your heart awakens." "I don't want your grace!" "Send to me to hell!" "Then the judge raised his hand and asked:" ""Do you want to be a servant in a museum or a warden in a green park or have a small tobacco stall on the street corner?" "To hell" "The men's toilet of the coffee house was closed this evening and gentlemen used the ladies' toilet." "After all guests had left, the body of Andreas Pum was taken away." "After a few days, because there was a lack of bodies and even though he had just one leg, it was sent to the anatomic theatre and, by a mysterious coincidence, was given" "Number 73, the same number the prisoner Andreas had worn." "Before the body was brought to the dissecting room," "Willi came to say good-bye." "Just as he was about to start crying, the song he used to whistle came to his mind." "Whistling he went to search for an old man for the bathroom." "The Rebellion" "Based on the novel by Joseph Roth"