A Bed for the Wretched – Chapter 6

A Bed for the Wretched – Chapter 6

Loud thunder shook the mountainside and lightning lit the sky as it began to rain hard. Now this was some rain! Then we heard a voice from the administration office yelling: “Everybody out! Get up and get out. Get out!” “Why?” someone asked. “Why do you ask why? Are you blind? Can’t you see it’s raining?” the person from the administration office replied. “I am blind comrade… I am blind…” the man replied. “Then, can you not hear that it is raining?” asked the man from the administration office. “I can hear it! I can hear it!” replied the blind man. “Well then, get out!” the man from the administration office ordered. One by one we began to hesitantly make our way out and allowed the pouring water from the sky to fall on us and wash the dirt from our bodies. “Wash everything, including your smelly packages gentlemen! Make them shiny!” someone yelled. We stunk like maggots from the sweat and from everything else and once we felt the cleansing rain on our bodies we began to wash everything, rubbing off all the dirt and letting the rainwater take it away… “By God I will rub every part of my body,” said another man, “and then I will sit all day and squash lice.” “Hey, you over there! Take your socks off and wash your feet. You stink like a village manure heap. “Why should I take my socks off? So that my feet can get dirty in the mud? You are a wise guy, aren’t you?” replied the smelly man. “Hey, guys! Look! The women are enjoying the rain too!” someone whispered. And why shouldn’t they? They have more things to wash than we do. I remember last year we were somewhere in Gramos and the commander of our squad gave all the women a piece of soap from the supplies we had seized the day before. He then sent them to a stream up the mountain to wash themselves. Dear God, when they came back they looked bright and clean and rosy, just beautiful. I said to one: “Give me some of that soap so that I too can wash and be handsome.” She laughed and laughed and then looked me in the eye and said: “Oh, some soap ha! There wasn’t enough there to wash half my butt. My other half is still dirty…” I looked at her… she was quite meaty… ouch! “Wash yourselves well!” said the man responsible for our barrack. “Wash yourselves well because we don’t know when it will rain again...” This man was a DAG Unit commander and still had the confidence of a commander. He always carried himself like a commander.

“And I promise you, when we liberate Athens...” he said but before he finished he was interrupted by another man who shouted out: “Oh mother! We haven’t even come out of the forest and he is dreaming of Athens...” “Don’t talk, just listen!” replied the commander with a raised tone of voice while standing in the mud with his legs apart and rubbing his chest with his right hand. He lost his left hand in Kajmakchalan. “When we liberate Athens, I, your commander, promise you that each one of you, at least once, will have a bath in the Queen’s bathtub. I will personally make sure the bathtub is filled with hot water fit for a popular fighter. And each one of you will receive a bottle of shampoo...” “Well thank you, but that may be a little too much for me. I would not want to lie drunk in the royal bathtub. Just look at what this man is preparing for us...” said the man who spoke up earlier. “Oh, you ox, the shampoo is not for drinking; its soap for washing. Just listen and don’t say anything until I explain everything to you so that you don’t embarrass me in front of a colonel or a general. You will pour the bottle of shampoo in the warm water, swash the water with your finger two or three times and the water will form soap suds. They it will be as thick as a cloud. And after that you will enter into this fragrant white, blue, or red soap cloud, depending on what colour of shampoo you chose, and you will enjoy your bath lying there looking at the walls covered with gilded tiles...” explained the commander. “And then I will curse and swear at the Queen’s mother for having our national treasures glued to the walls... That German so and so...” replied the man. “I told you to listen carefully and to not interrupt because you will embarrass me in front of some general... In other words, you will be looking at the walls covered with large, reflective mirrors. After that you will get out of the tub and you will stand under the shower...” explained the commander, but before he could finish he was interrupted again. “And what is that, huh?” inquired the same man. “That is a smaller room, coated with silver tiles...” explained the commander who was again interrupted. “Oh, that German so and so, here too she has found a place to hide the people’s silver...” “Stop interrupting the man! Look how beautifully he tells the story!” piped up another man. “...walls covered with silver tiles, like I said. Yes, with silver tiles. And up in the ceiling and on all sides in the walls there are little holes. And when you press a button...” continued the commander until he was again interrupted by the same man who said: “And how do I know which button to press…?”

“Hey buddy, you are frustrating the man. He told you he will personally explain everything to you. So please listen, huh, buddy?” piped up the other man. “Like I said, you press the button and then water starts to flow... like rain...” continued the commander until he was again interrupted by the same man who then said: “She is some queen huh... She comes out of the scented soap and then goes into the rain. I ask you, if the queen has a bath and warm water why would she want to go into the rain? She must be some crazy queen huh, to be going into the rain? Is that queen a bit insane, eh?” “A shower, you idiot, is not exactly rain...” replied the commander. “But it does come down in droplets, right Commander?...” said the same man. “Yes! Yes it does!” another man from the other side of the creek, kneeling in the muddy water, attempted to explain. “No, no, don’t listen to him!” said another man; a machine gunner. “Listen to the commander. If the commander says she goes into the rain, then she goes into the rain. And if she does, she must be some crazy queen! No thank you. Don’t make me go under the rain because I have had enough rain in my lifetime…” “And how are you smart birds going to wash the soap off your body after you come out from the bath? Huh? In the shower! The man is telling you right! Please continue Comrade!” piped up another man. “After you rinse the soap off your body in the shower, you will then wipe yourself with a large towel made of soft cloth. Then you will put on a long scented silk gown and go to the massage room and lie in the queen’s bed...” explained the commander until he was again interrupted by the same man who said: “What? What?” “I said lie in the queen’s bed…” explained the commander. “With the queen or without her?” the same man interrupted again. “Oh shut up! The queen would be long gone by then. She would have escaped to London, to America, or to France. And if she hasn’t, then we will hang her at Plaka,” explained the commander. “And after that, comrade?” asked the same man. “What then? Refreshed, everyone will wear a custom made suit, expensive shoes, a neck tie or bowtie and take a walk in Athens. You can go to a café and have a cup of Turkish coffee, a glass of “Metaxa” brandy, or a glass of “Mastika dodekato Vareli” (Twelve Barrel Mastika),” explained the commander. “And what do I do with my crutches, Comrade?” asked the same man. “Enough with the questions!” someone yelled impatiently. “Have patience, everything will be revealed!”

“Be patient, the man is taking us for a visit to Athens and is reserving a place for us to have coffee in a café? Right comrades, we have come this far?” piped up another man. “So what if we came this far, now we will sit quietly, drink some coffee or mastika and listen for our orders...” said another man. “Continue, Comrade… continue,” said the man who constantly interrupted. “Once we outlive our suffering, we will be able to live normal lives,” said the commander. “And food, what kind of food will we be eating?” asked the interrupting man. “You again?! For as long as we are walking the parks and visiting café’s we will not starve? We will still have our canned food,” replied the commander. “American canned food with meat, I hope,” said the interrupting man. Those American cans again; they gave us diarrhea for a month last fall. The Unit Political Commissar spent hours and hours in the outhouse because of those American cans…