H. Adler - Panorama

Once when the older boys were down below for their bath, Josef went into a classroom just to be alone for a while, only to discover the boy to whom he had said that he was worried that his packet of money could be stolen because his desk was open, then the next morning it was really gone. This time, however, he didn’t pay any attention to the boy and just wanted to read a book, but the boy said that it was time to take a bath, so why wasn’t Josef doing so, and that he was just about to go himself, in fact they could go together. Then Josef left and took his swim trunks, the hand towel, the soap, the nail brush, and the comb, rolling them all up together as everyone did at The Box, the boy coming along as well, when suddenly the latter said that he had to go back because he had forgotten something, and that Josef should go on ahead of him, the boy would soon follow. Josef didn’t think any more about it and was already in the bath, but when he returned from the bath to the classroom a classmate was upset that he had just received a packet of food that day and had eaten hardly anything from it, everything having been locked in the cabinet of his desk, and now it had all been stolen, only a couple of biscuits and some paper still left, while everything else was gone, even though he had asked his classmates if they knew anything about it, for everything had been there just an hour ago when he went to take a bath. No one in the classroom knew anything, everyone had left the little room, and after Josef listened for a while it finally dawned on him what had happened to his own packet of money, and so he went to the one who was so upset and said to him, “I need to talk to you, for I have a suspicion as to who it is.” Then he told him what he had observed on his way to the baths, that he couldn’t be absolutely certain, but that he believed that the boy must have taken it, and that he should inquire about him.

Then they went to the inspector on duty, who happened to be Löschhorn, after which they looked for the boy throughout the entire Box, until they finally found him and said he had to open his desk and cabinet, although he said that he had taken nothing, nor had he ever taken anything, though they said to him, “Then open up! If you haven’t taken anything there’s no problem, and you can just close them up again!” Then he had to open up, but he smirked through it all, for he was insulted that anyone would think he could have stolen anything, while once he had opened up everything it all looked as if there really was nothing inside that didn’t belong to him, though Inspector Löschhorn simply reached in and found everything from the package hidden behind other stuff, the middle schooler recognizing everything that belonged to him, the next development occurring when there appeared the name of a fine-goods store in Meerane, which was where the middle schooler was from, Inspector Löschhorn asking, “Now, my boy, where did you get these things?” But the young boy still kept saying that he had never stolen anything, he knew nothing about how those things got there, though the middle schooler said that all of it was from the package he’d gotten that day, the young boy continuing to maintain that he had stolen nothing until the middle schooler yelled, “I also have witnesses!” The inspector, however, said there was no need for witnesses, the middle schooler just needed to say if all of it was his, whether anything was missing, at which the latter looked carefully at everything and said, “It’s all here. There are only two apples missing, which were already gone.” To that Inspector Löschhorn replied that the middle schooler should take all of his things, and the young boy would soon see the consequences of what he’d done, as the inspector would speak to The Bull, for thieves weren’t allowed at The Box, the inspector saying that he would have to lock the boy in the little room where The Paster teaches his cadets, while the middle schooler should give Josef something as a reward, since he was the one who had uncovered the thief. The middle schooler did indeed give Josef something, and was genuinely friendly to him from then on, but no real friendship developed from it.

The boy who had stolen the things got a couple of slaps from The Bull, who then ordered even stronger measures, the kind that came at the end of a dressing-down from The Bull as he ordered a circle to be formed around the sinner in the middle, from which a couple of older pupils stepped forward to beat him for real. The one convicted is defenseless, even if he tries to hold his hands up to his face or pushes back with his elbows or kicks with his feet, for the others are much too strong, and the stronger boys like to hit with all their might until The Bull says that it’s enough. The Bull then leaves and everyone withdraws, and the guilty one is reduced to a lump covered in blue welts, but no one pays him any attention, since no one is allowed to do anything more to him. Yet as the stronger boy whisked the thief away from Josef’s classroom he no longer felt bad for him, for indeed he would not be allowed to remain at The Box, which is why a couple of days later he disappeared and went back to his parents who lived near Wurzen, since thieves were not tolerated at The Box.

When the study hall early in the morning is over, the bell rings again, and the pupils pack their schoolbags, running across the courtyard into the school in good weather, otherwise the doors are opened and you can walk across without even a coat. School lasts until twelve, sometimes until one, a short pause occurring after each period, the one at ten lasting a bit longer, during which two half slices of bread stuck together with margarine and beetroot marmalade are distributed as a second breakfast from large baskets, the pupils lining up on the first floor in order to get a single serving each. During the longer break you can also go to Marta, the head nurse in the infirmary, if you feel you have something wrong with you, but on the other hand you shouldn’t just go anytime you feel like it, for Head Nurse Marta gets very cross if you show up needlessly, it being only reasonable to go if you’re bleeding or feel really sick. The head nurse believes in toughing it out, instead of going to her for any old scratch, for you can put up with a little headache or tummyache, the head nurse having little time to do anything if all two hundred and fifty pupils came to see her every day. If you show up, the head nurse asks what’s the matter, and then dispenses some kind of powder or a spoon of medicine, or sprays something in your eyes, washes out any small wound, smears on a salve, puts on a Band-Aid, or unrolls a bandage, everything taken care of in a jiffy. Josef can’t stand her, nor can many of the others, she being helped by two regular nurses as well as two dispensers, since more and more pupils end up having to stay in the infirmary. When Head Nurse Marta thinks that something is really wrong with a pupil, she orders him to go to the doctor, who then performs a thorough examination, though now there is a new doctor whom the head nurse doesn’t like, because he believes that one should be quite sympathetic when it comes to illness, and is against the use of powders and much more in favor of using wet wraps that slowly bring a fever down, this causing the illness to last longer, resulting in much more work for the nurses, which angers Head Nurse Marta more than anything else.

If a pupil says that he is sick, the head nurse sits him down in a chair, dips a thermometer in alcohol, and sticks it under his arm, and if it’s higher than 100 she says, “You have to stay in the infirmary.” If you have only a small fever you can get the things you need in the infirmary from The Box, but if it’s higher than 102 you have to stay and have someone get what you need, be it a nightshirt, slippers, toiletries, or whatever else you want, though not all that much is allowed. When the head nurse thinks it’s infectious, she has isolation rooms where you are completely alone, Josef having always wanted to get such a room, while others are afraid of them, saying that’s where you go when you have scarlet fever or diphtheria, though if you are sick with these you don’t stay in the infirmary but instead an ambulance comes and takes you away. If the isolation rooms are empty, then sometimes Head Nurse Marta can stick someone in one of them as punishment for causing too much trouble or mischief elsewhere, though again what a pleasure Josef feels it would be to be punished so, if only the head nurse weren’t so nasty. Sometimes she also suspects that someone has intentionally made himself sick in order to get out of The Box for a while, yet she says she is proud to keep the pupils healthy, and that her sickroom is not overfull, except when there’s a rash of flu or a stomach virus, which can never be completely prevented, but that’s when the head nurse is in a bad mood and is always very upset that the new doctor is so against the use of powders. Josef wonders why so many pupils say how nice it is to be sick now and then, claiming that you can at least get some extra rest and don’t have to get up so early, many going back again and again, for he doesn’t find the grub up above any better, since it’s almost exactly the same as what’s served in The Box, except with much more broth, and herb tea rather than barley coffee, though it’s true that the doctor is very nice, always making a couple of jokes during his examination.