Read Online Iron Gustav by Hans Fallada - Free Book Online Page B

house.
    ‘Suppose he goes on stealing?’
    Otto made no reply.
    She sighed heavily. Now that her son was free again her mood changed; he would have to look after himself. It was time to be
thinking of her husband. ‘He mustn’t,’ she said. ‘Father has his troubles too.’
    Otto nodded.
    ‘Please go upstairs, Otto. Stand in front of the door and don’t let Erich in. Tell him I’ll give him ten marks, no, nine – Eva took one for the herrings … With nine marks he can live three days. Tell him that, Otto, and by then I’ll get some more money from Father.’
    ‘I’ve got seven marks.’
    ‘Good, give him them too. Tell him to let me know where he’s staying. I’ll send Heinz with money now and then. Tell him that, Ottchen.’
    ‘Yes, Mother.’
    ‘And, Otto,’ she called after him, ‘ask him to come down and say goodbye to me. I can’t come upstairs this moment, my knees feel weak with the excitement. Don’t forget to tell him. He
must
say goodbye to me. I’m his mother, I got him out of here.’
    Otto nodded and went obediently. Otto was the family beast of burden, the one ordered about and scolded, and nobody cared what he thought or felt. His mother was holding Erich’s bread. It was good bread. Slowly, with enjoyment, she started to eat it. The chewing, the nourishing flavour, the assimilation of food did her good. The last remains of her excitement passed. She ate, ergo she lived. She no longer thought about the argument which might break out among the brothers upstairs. And she didn’t think, either, about the coming conflict with her husband. She ate, she lived.
    But, before she had quite finished, Otto returned. She couldn’t read his message from his face.
    ‘Well,’ she asked, chewing. ‘Where’s Erich?’
    ‘Gone!’
    ‘Didn’t you tell him to say goodbye to me? I particularly asked you.’
    ‘He’d already gone when I went upstairs.’
    ‘And – do tell me, Ottchen – what about Father’s room?’
    ‘Everything’s all right, Mother.’
    ‘Thank God.’ She was relieved. ‘I always said that Erich was sometimes inconsiderate but never wicked. No, our Erich isn’t wicked.’ She waited for confirmation from Otto but that was too much to
expect. He spoke at last, however. ‘But he’s smashed the lamp in the girls’ bedroom.’
    She was astonished. ‘Why should Erich have smashed it? Don’t be silly, Ottchen. Doris did that, obviously, when she was cleaning up, but never mind, I’ll deduct it from her wages on the first.’
    ‘Heinz told us Eva kept her savings in the counterweight of the lamp.’
    ‘Heinz? How does Heinz know? In the weight? You can’t keep anything in that.’
    ‘The weight’s hollow. It can be unscrewed.’
    ‘But …’ Still she did not understand. ‘Why did he break the lamp?’
    ‘I have to take the horses to the blacksmith’s,’ said Otto. ‘Erich has taken Eva’s money and while he was about it the lamp must have come down and smashed.’
    ‘I’ll give it back to Eva,’ cried his mother. ‘Eva can’t have had much, a few pence out of the household money! There’s no need to make a row, tell her that immediately, Ottchen.’
    ‘I must take the horses to the smithy, Mother. And Eva had over two hundred marks, so Heinz said …’
    With that Otto went.
§ XV
    Eva had not been in a hurry about the fresh herrings. Past the Schloss, where people were standing in large groups waiting for the Kaiser, she had dawdled along enjoying the fine June morning … Fools, decided Eva. Why, the Imperial standard wasn’t to be seen; His Majesty was on a cruise in the North Sea – people could stand there till they took root!
    Passing down Unter den Linden, she turned into the Friedrichstrasse and sauntered on till she came to Wertheim’s Stores. Eva had only the one mark with her, so she had no intention of buying anything there, but she went in and looked round nonetheless. Her eyes shone. This abundance of silk and velvet, this great