Adam Resurrected Page #3

Mercy.

You're the nurse.

What- what happened to-

You break the tiniest rule,

you break the entire system.

Do you know who is also

a great believer in the rules?

Hmm?

Kommandant Klein.

Ow.

What a terrible thing to say.

Yeah, well, I only insult people I love.

You don't love me.

You treat me like a dog.

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, but you're so wrong.

With you, I lose control.

When I was strangling the landlady,

who do you think

I was really strangling, Gina?

You.

You bastard.

Do it.

Do it like I taught you, sweetheart.

No, they'll hear me.

Do it.

Yeah, down on your knees and crawl.

That is correct.

Yeah, but that sounds like a schnauzer.

I want the wolfhound.

Oh, I like it.

Oh, that's right.

Oh, that's right.

You're despicable, darling.

Just give it back when you're done.

Let me see what kind of beast

has Gross brought here.

Let me see what you are.

Come here.

Ow!

You know you can't be in here, Adam.

Come on.

Come on, let's go.

Bad dog.

Bad dog.

Bad dog.

Okay, let me see your hand.

I told it I'd be back,

and it understood.

Get back in there.

The stench.

Lying in his own goddamn feces.

But the attendant,

that flea-bitten gibbon,

he did not.

Adam, stop.

Stop it now.

Son of a b*tch.

Crazy son of a b*tch.

Before Hitler, we were hated

by the rest of Europe,

loved only by our Jews,

who somehow convinced themselves

that our two nations shared a common destiny.

A pair of pariahs,

so said your man Kafka,

that demented Hebrew.

Sprung from the same bosom.

No wonder it's such messy business

vomiting you from our midst.

Adam!

Down, boy!

Without rules, there is chaos.

I know you can appreciate this.

Even in a circus, there are rules.

Herr Kommandant.

Those trucks outside, the Red Cross.

Shh.

You don't hear Rex begging for favors, do you?

They are taking prisoners to Matsdorflager.

Ask them to take three more.

Rex knows his role:

to serve and protect.

You know yours:

to comfort and entertain.

And who knows?

Maybe that in itself

can save a life, yes?

Yes.

Danke schoen.

Look, Adam.

Look what I found for you.

It once played in the Dresden Orchestra.

There's been some rethinking.

We have new work for you.

That's nice, Adam.

Adam Stein?

Frau Fogel.

Listen, Adam.

I have news.

Quiet over there.

Ruthie's alive, inside Germany,

someplace special.

Play it, Adam.

You're crying, Adam.

It is water.

I had some water before.

Did I kill him?

Almost.

You've got to be more careful, Adam.

We still need you.

Danke schoen.

Listen, Adam.

I've had it.

In a month's time on Purim's Eve in 1962,

Abe Wolfowitz is going to be a dead man.

What?

I've been sewing my own shrouds

from bed sheets.

Don't tell Gina.

You are not going to leave me alone

in this madhouse, Abe.

Seriously, Adam.

Me and- and Him,

we're going to have it out

once and for all.

I want to know how-

how He could be so cruel.

And if He won't come to me,

I'll go to Him,

and you'll write my eulogy.

Okay, I- I'll write your eulogy.

Such a beautiful child,

my little Naomi.

Didn't look anything like me.

Got it all from her mother.

You write it down, Adam.

What do I write, Wolfie,

addressed to whom, God?

God is out to lunch.

He left a note, see, on your-

on your arm.

Don't say that name.

You are not going to kill yourself.

You remind me of Rabbi Lichtenstein,

who- who back in Stellring-

listen- would argue

that our debasement

was not God's doing but Satan's.

Listen.

But I would argue

that the crimes of Klein

are the crimes of Hitler,

but the crimes of Hitler

are the crimes of the Lord.

No, no, no, no, Adam.

You get some rest.

We can do this later.

But wait, wait, Wolfie.

The- the thing in 285 barks like a dog,

smells like a dog, but uh, the teeth?

Do I know, Adam?

It's- it's just some crazy kid

raised in a basement

with a chain around its neck.

A kid?

Gross says it's dangerous.

Nobody goes near it.

He's Gross' special project.

So you think-

you think that you are the only one?

Yeah?

Yeah.

Let me tell you,

oh, there are others.

Me, for instance.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I am the con man.

I am the freak.

I am the monstrosity.

I am the genius.

But true genius,

it comes with a price.

Yeah, the singer joins the opera.

The mathematician unlocks

the secrets of the universe.

But me?

Oh, my gifts, worthless.

And so I was marked for the circus.

I was destined for the sideshow.

And for the doghouse.

Yeah.

Oh, you didn't know this, did you?

Oh, yeah.

For one whole year,

I ate from the dog bowl,

lived on all fours,

slept in the pen,

shat on the ground.

I learned from the master.

Sturmfuehrer Rex.

But now do you see where my gifts

have delivered me?

Now, hang on, come here.

Wait, wait, come here.

Shh.

Hang on. Hang on.

Yeah, let me just see this.

The dog that is not the dog,

the child that is not the child.

This is the way they looked,

back there in the camps,

sunken cheeks, tubercular chests,

and from inside the blackened sockets,

those eyes sick with fear but alive.

Enough, Arthur.

Adam.

Shame on you.

This is a place for survivors, right?

Yes.

Well, what is this boy doing here?

Why- what are you doing

with this comb?

Gina, do not- don't make-

don't do it with the comb.

Well, Dr. Gross brought him.

Yes, Gross.

He was howling and biting himself,

sodden with his own filth.

We tried to get that awful chain off him,

but, you saw; it's still on.

No one has the right

to be more than me,

not you, not the dog.

- More what?

- Crazy.

He's crazier than me.

You're not crazy.

I am crazy.

- You're sick.

- No, I am crazy.

You're sick.

That dog is superior to me,

do you understand this?

No?

He has succeeded where I have failed.

He is Gross' star.

I think I have a right to say-

That you love me.

How did you know

what I was going to say?

Because I can read you.

You love the crazy, the aging,

the sub-human Adam Stein.

Why is this?

Why?

A healthy Adam Stein, for you,

not so attractive.

It's important that you know,

really know.

Makes no difference why,

but I do with all my heart.

Yes, you're a whore, and I use you.

Now, listen, my landlady,

Ruthchen, the quiet type,

f***ing her was like f***ing butter.

F***ing you is like

f***ing the motorcycle.

You're cruel, darling.

Oh, Gina, Gina,

it's a little humor.

Child, this is what saves everything.

Klein knew it well.

You can weed out

more sub-humans in a day

with humor and Zyklon B

than you can with Zyklon B alone.

It's the combination.

Yeah.

Adam.

What are you doing in there?

Adam, you devil.

Well, it is Purim, after all,

and I can get another toothbrush.

Now, back to work.

We're almost done.

I still think he looks a little too-

I don't know-

healthy.

Don't you think?

Blacken the eye sockets,

for your Purim costume.

Rex, hold still.

And?

Oh yeah, of course, yeah, yeah.

Here we go, Rex.

Yeah, you're a prisoner.

Look scared; he is the Kommandant.

Wonderful.

A Purim to remember.

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