Jewish fiction; Jews -- Fiction; Pinski, David, 1872-1959 -- Translations into English; Short stories, Jewish
But with all this his hunger was not appeased in the slightest,
nor was his seething heart calmed in the smallest degree. He waxed
still angrier, for he felt that these were mere trifles, that he had
accomplished nothing with them. He walked through the gate, glanced
up and down the street, and felt that he was an enemy to every
passer-by, and especially to every one that rode. He cursed them with
bitter oaths and would gladly, with his own hands, have executed all
tortures upon them.
Another little pupil approached the gate; he was wrapped in a broad
scarf and wore the large shoes of a grown-up person. He held his
hands inside the scarf, and either because he was indifferent or
because it was too cold, he did not remove them to wipe his nose,
from which mucus leaked down to his mouth.
Out of his pocket peeped a crust of bread. Itsye was seized with a
longing for it, but the appearance of the poor child restrained him.
He sought, however, to convince himself that he was incensed against
the child, even as he was against the whole world, and that he ought
to give him a hard kick, as he had just done to Zhutshke. He seized
the child by the nose, then struck him on the cap and scowled, “Slob,
it’s running into your mouth!” The child was frightened, brought his
elbow up to his nose and ran off. But soon he turned back, looked at
his unexpected enemy and began to cry, “Wicked Itsye! Itsye the bad
man!” And he disappeared through the gate. Itsye did not even deign
to look at him.
He leaned against the gate. Why? He did not himself know. At any
rate, he was weary. Angry and exhausted. The two cakes had only
excited him. Food, food! He could see before his eyes the piece of
bread in the poor boy’s torn pocket. That would have come in very
handy. He was sorry that he hadn’t taken it away. A whole big piece
of bread——
He leaned more heavily against the gate, not knowing why and not
knowing what was to come or what would result from his standing
there. The cold grew intense, but Itsye did not feel it, for he
was angry and paid no attention to it. Besides, he had no place of
refuge. Up there in his garret it was still colder. Moreover, there
was nobody there, and he would have none upon whom to vent his wrath.
He stood thinking of nothing. It was impossible for him to think. He
no longer knew precisely that he was in a rage; it seemed to him that
to-day he would work a very clever piece of malice. He knew nothing
about dynamite; otherwise he would have thought unceasingly of bombs,
and would have painted himself pictures of the whole city, the whole
country, the world itself, being blown by him into atoms. But he gave
no thought to any definite project. He was certain that he would do
something malicious enough. He felt it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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