Sektion 20 by Paul Dowswell

Author:Paul Dowswell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Alex’s heart was thumping hard in his chest. He was trying his best to hide his fear. As the door swung open he peered in. There were two bunk beds, a chair and table, and a portable toilet. That was why the whole place smelled so bad. The cells all had their own portable toilets. So far he could not see anyone else in there.

‘Hartmann, say Guten Tag to your cellmate,’ said the guard.

A young man lying on the top bunk sat up, then jumped down.

‘You must be Alex,’ he said, as he shook his hand.

Alex couldn’t believe his luck.

‘I’m Eugen Hartmann.’

The guard slammed the door and locked it.

‘That’s it until supper,’ said Eugen. ‘It gets very boring. I’ll give you a tour of the facilities. Here we have the bookshelf . . .’

He pointed to three dusty, moth-eaten old books. Alex scanned the titles: Creating Young Comrades; Nikolai Ostrovsky’s How the Steel Was Tempered; and Scientific Socialism, Victor of History. There were also several ragged copies of the Sputnik youth magazine.

‘Not an inspired choice, but they’re the best I could find,’ said Eugen. ‘You’ll read anything after you’ve been stuck here for a week.’

‘How long have you been here?’ asked Alex.

‘Just over a week,’ said Eugen.

Alex wondered if he should ask why Eugen was in here.

‘They put me here for selling black market records,’ said Eugen.

‘Cool,’ said Alex. He liked him already.

‘I don’t know how long I’m going to stay here. They’ve forbidden me to mix with the others. Say I’m a bad influence. They must think you’re corrupt enough already for it not to matter!’

Alex was so relieved to meet someone who seemed OK. He reached into his pocket and offered him a sweet.

Eugen smiled and popped it in his mouth.

‘I don’t really know why they put me in here. Being awkward, I think,’ swaggered Alex. ‘And listening to the wrong music.’

‘They must have thought we’d have a lot to talk about,’ said Eugen with a laugh.

They did too – long into the afternoon. Most of it was about their favourite rock groups and who played the best guitar. Eugen was a Hendrix fan and looked down his nose at Led Zeppelin. ‘They stole all their best tunes from the old blues guys,’ he said. ‘ “The Lemon Song” – that’s “Killing Floor” by Howlin’ Wolf. “Whole Lotta Love” – that’s “You Need Love” by Willie Dixon.’

Alex didn’t know enough about it to argue, but he had heard one or two of ‘the old blues guys’ and Led Zeppelin sounded nothing like them.

Eugen was good company – Alex had been lucky. The only thing he hated about being in that cell with Eugen was that there was a single portable toilet in the corner. He felt embarrassed when he needed to take a crap.

‘It’s just like kindergarten,’ said Eugen, ‘but with just one potty.’

Alex laughed as he remembered his kindergarten days. They used to make them all sit on their potties at the same time. It was something about encouraging them to be good citizens.

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