| Description |
A shaggy brown coat crusted with snow stood there, and above it a large fur cap also crusted with white. From the narrow slit between coat and cap, two very bright eyes looked out at me. I stepped aside and the great coat entered, and from its folds and from beneath the fur cap, came the most unique-appear-ing character I had ever seen. He was short and stocky with a head as round as a ball and just as hairless, and which rested right down on broad shoulders. Somehow I noticed his eyes more than anything else. They were big and blue and kindly; and the first impression I got was of a similar character with child-pink cheeks so prominently exploited this season of the year. "My, my," our visitor said in broken German. "How unsoci-able ve are." His keen eyes swept the room and came to rest on the tumbled bed. "Und ve haf sickness yet. My, my und you both look so stupid." "We are going to have a baby," came the young husband's trembling voice, "and we need help." "Ve are going to haf a baby. My, my, vot an occasion." He folded his hands across his tummy and his musical laughter filled the room. "Ve are going to haf a baby." He looked from me to the young man and laughed again. "In all der vorld it has never happened before. Vot a joker." A sudden wave of irritation swept over me. "I don't see where this occasion calls for jokes. This woman needs profession-al help." The expression on that rotund face changed not in the least. "Life should be so serious yet. So natural like der snow falls una der Spring blooms, iss der birth of babies, und so far back as life itself, Han has been der timid rabbit." He patted my arm assuringly. "I make der joke, ya. Don't vorry, I vill help her. Now," he continued, turning away from me with the air of one who has disposed of some momentous issue. "You two vill hang der sheets around der bed." As I quickly started to do his bidding, the woman looked up at me with pain-filled eyes. "Who is he?" she whispered. -49- |
