But tonight, before his departure, Bubi raises his eyes to mine, and slowly, haltingly begins to speak. I no longer attempt to speak to him I have resigned myself to his silence. Now I alone meet Bubi at the fence, because the kitchen commando works late into the night, but Bubi does not take notice of the change. Then he would retrieve the bread from the ground with great effort, and limp away, just as he came, without speaking. Every evening after Zählappell we would watch Bubi as he hobbled to the fence with his clattering tin can and wait for the piece of bread to land on his side. Until now Mommy and I shared one bread ration, and the other we threw over the barbed-wire fence for Bubi. So now Mommy and I have only one bread ration among us. Members of the kitchen commando do not get any bread ration in order to compensate for the vegetables they eat during peeling. Mommy does not dare hide any vegetables on her body, and I am glad. A few days ago, a young girl from our transport was hanged in the Appellplatz, the central square of Waldlager, because at frisking time they found on her a carrot and two potatoes. But they are not permitted to take anything out of the kitchen-they are frisked every evening as they leave for the bunkers. Sometimes they peel carrots, and they are permitted to eat from the carrots, too.
The peelers are permitted to eat from the potatoes. She sits in an elongated barrack among many other women and peels potatoes from early morning till late at night. Mommy is assigned to the kitchen commando.
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