@@@@@In the gray angles where the walls meet the
@@@@@In the gray angles where the walls meet the floor you can watch the mice ambling through the dust, the pure and erratic motion of the cockroaches out for a stroll
The air shaft that connects the bathrooms from floor to floor is filling up with trash and an occasional discharge of garbageWhen it reaches the second story the janitor will set fire to it
Improvised incinerator
The house is exactly like every other one on the block and the square mile surrounding it
Casimir ("Polack") Czienwicz, age of nine, wakes up in the morning and scratches his head, sits up on the pile of quilting spread out upon the floor, and looks at the stove in the center of the room, which has gone outThere are three other children besides himself sleeping there, and he rolls over, pretends he is still asleepSoon his sister Mary will be waking, moving about and dressing, and he wants to watch her
Outside the wind is begging against the windowpanes, slinking between the cracks to slide freely along the floor
Jesus, it's cold, he mutters to his brother sleeping beside him
She up yet? (The brother is elevenHe holds his finger against his lips
Mary rises shivering, pokes at the stove abstractedly, and pulls her cotton slip down about her shoulders, letting the nightgown fall as the slip travels down her bodyThe two boys catch a glimpse of bare flesh, giggle quietly in their beds
What are you looking at, Steve? she shouts
Haw, I saw ya, I saw ya
He has put out his hand to stop Steve too lateCasimir shakes his head in disgust, mature disgustWha'd ya go and do that for, now ya ruined it
Steve takes a poke at him, but Casimir has ducked, is darting about the room, avoiding himStop it, Steve, Mary screams
Cut it out, cut it out, Polack yells
The father, a huge heavy man, has come in from the other room, wearing only his pantsYou kids stop it, he shouts in PolishSeeing Steve he cuffs h