A bit of light shone through a small window that was covered with an iron grating. The windowpane was so black that the light making its way through it looked grimy.
Emil was the first to open his eyes. He’d slept poorly all night, tossing from side to side. Several times he’d heard Karl cry out in his sleep, which terrified Emil. But now Karl was sleeping peacefully. He lay on his back, and in the dim light it seemed to Emil that his friend was smiling in his sleep.
It wasn’t long before Karl woke up, too. He opened his eyes and looked at Emil as though he didn’t recognize him. But as soon as Karl looked up at the little window, he realized where he was.
“I had such a nice dream,” he told Emil. “Your mother and my mother were taking us to the park. We were all dressed up. We played on the seesaw, we rode on the carousel, and my father was sitting on a bench, reading a book. We ran into our teacher in the garden, and she wagged her finger at me, but then she smiled. Then, all of a sudden you and I started to run, and both of our mothers ran after us, and they were laughing. Everything was so nice, the birds were singing, the carousel was playing music.”
“It must have been a nice dream. You were smiling in your sleep. But during the night you cried out, and I got scared.”
Emil propped himself up on one side. It was a hard place to sleep.
Overhead they heard a scraping noise, going back and forth. They realized that someone was sweeping with a broom.
“The janitor is sweeping the steps,” said Karl. “It must still be early, it must be when we usually leave for school.”
Both boys lay there, not wanting to get up. Suddenly the door opened, and a short man walked over to a corner, put away a broom, and picked up two others, laying them across his shoulders as if he were carrying rifles.
Karl let out a cough, and the janitor turned around, startled. “Who’s there?” He shouted, standing still.
When Karl didn’t answer, the janitor came nearer, looked closely, then clapped his hands together. “Karl! Karl! What are you doing here?”
He didn’t wait for an answer, but began to shout, “Berta! Berta!”
A woman with unkempt hair came running in a panic. She stood close to the boys and peered at Karl, with her small, nearsighted eyes.
“Can this be Karl?” she exclaimed.
“Yes,” Karl answered, feeling happy inside, because he was with people he knew.
“Did you sleep here all night?” the janitor asked. “Was this your bed?”
“Yes,” Karl answered.
“Terrible! Terrible!” the janitor shouted. He ran around in the cellar, and kept shouting, “Terrible! Terrible!”
“Hush, Josef,” said his wife, trying to calm him.
“No, don’t ‘hush’ me, I feel like shouting. Let them come and punish me, I’m not afraid. Terrible! Terrible!”
“Josef, please, be quiet,” Berta pleaded.
Karl felt very grateful that the janitor was so concerned. The boy quickly explained what had happened to his friend Emil and to his father and mother.
“And how is your mother, have you heard anything from her?”
“No,” Karl answered, lowering his head.
“Terrible! Terrible! Berta, what has happened to the world?”
The two boys sat on the floor, not moving from their places.
“Take them into the house. We have to give them something to eat.”
When he saw that his wife hadn’t moved, the janitor threw down the brooms and lifted up both boys.
“I’m not afraid of anyone. Let them come. I want to know if it’s against the law to give food to such poor, unfortunate children. I’d like to hear it with my own ears.”
And when Berta still stood there, the janitor shouted so loud at her that she trembled. “Are you no longer afraid of God?”
“Josef!” she cried in a pleading voice.
He took hold of Emil with one hand and Karl with the other and led them up several steps. There he opened a door and led the boys down a few more steps. It was dark, but then the janitor opened another door and it became lighter. He brought the boys into a cramped basement room.
This room was a little brighter than the cellar. Emil saw his reflection in a rusty mirror, and it frightened him. He was so filthy that he didn’t recognize himself.
Just then the janitor’s wife came over to him with a cold, wet cloth. She gave his face a good washing and then washed his hands, wiping each finger clean. Then she did the same with Karl. The boys felt somewhat refreshed by the cold cloth, which the janitor’s wife rinsed out several times in a basin.
She set out bread, butter, and cheese and poured them each half a glass of milk. The boys didn’t say a word; they ate in silence. The basement room was quiet. Emil looked carefully at the janitor’s wife, noticing the reddish color of her hair. He also saw that the janitor didn’t have any hair at all, but he had a heavy mustache that drooped over each side of his mouth.
Josef sat in the farthest corner of the room and rocked slowly in his chair. When the boys finished eating, he spoke to them.
“Every night you should come and sleep in the cellar, do you hear me, Karl? And you, what is your name?”
Karl answered for him. “His name is Emil.”
“Karl, Emil—every night. I’ll put something down on the floor for you to sleep on. No one will dare disturb you. No one!” he shouted, as he rose from his rocking chair.
“Josef! Josef! You’ll make things bad for us all.”
“I’m not afraid, let them come. Are they going to shoot at me? Let them. I’ll just ask them, one man to another. I’ll point to these two boys. See, this is Emil and this is Karl! Is there anything wrong with that? I’ll ask them.” He banged on the table. “Berta, I’m not afraid.”
After this he calmed down, and he walked out of the house with slow, tired steps. He returned with the two brooms over his shoulder, like two rifles. He picked up a few rags, then took a can and shook it to see if there was still anything inside.
“There’s still enough kerosene,” his wife told him. Josef left the house without looking behind.
Berta went over to Karl and gave him a kiss. She kissed Emil, then took a basket and went over to the door.
“I’m going shopping for supper,” she told them as she stood by the door. “Why don’t you finish your milk, Karl?”
After she left, Karl told Emil that Josef and Berta were very good people. Everyone in the building liked them. Not long ago their only child, who was five years old, had died.
“My mother always used to say that the janitor has a heart of gold. He never yells at us kids. He plays with us whenever he has time.”
“All the other kids must be in school by now,” Emil said suddenly in a wistful voice.
Karl stood on a chair and stuck his head out the small window. “It’s nice outside,” he said to Emil. “What do you say, should we go out? The sun is shining, and it’s not raining any more.”
“But what about Josef and Berta?” asked Emil. “What will they say when they can’t find us?”
“Oh, we’ll come right back.” He jumped down off the chair. “We’ll go out for a while, just to say ‘good morning’ to the sun. Come on, Emil, we’ll just walk up and down the street a few times, and then we’ll come right back.”
Emil didn’t really want to go outside, but he followed his friend.