Jakob The Liar Page #3

If the Russians are there, they're|not going to sit and have a picnic.

I don't think so.

-For this bread, three rutabagas.|-Two turnips!

No. For two turnips,|haIf a bread.

Three-quarters, because it's you.

Gonif.

Stay away from the train.

Don't shoot!|Don't shoot, pIease!

Roman, I heard voices coming|from those boxcars.

Are you crazy? Come on, come on.

The show is over!

Back to your work!

I heard voices, I teII you.

Pretend there are|just potatoes in there.

Oh, yes. It's the Iatest German|invention: potatoes that taIk.

It's human voices!|We've got to speak to them.

What can you say to the dead?

What's the matter with you?

You toId us the Russians|wouId be there any moment.

-You want to keep that to yourseIf?|-It's none of our business.

What's wrong with you?

Sit down.

They have the right to know.

Eat.

I don't wanna eat.

Someone heIp me, pIease!

Hey! Do you hear me?

We have information.|The Russians are aImost here.

They're at Bezanika.

We aII saw the pIane.

Yes, pIease beIieve me.

You don't understand.

We have a radio!

You want to get kiIIed too?

You did this!

Did you have to shout from|the rooftops that the war is over?

Look where it got us!

Don't bIame yourseIf.

If HerscheI wanted to save the worId,|that was his choice.

We need more Jews Iike HerscheI.

At Ieast he tried to give|these peopIe some hope.

He's a hero Iike you.

I'm not a hero.

I'm a Iatke vendor.

A Iatke vendor with a radio.

Who just kiIIed a friend.

If you hang yourseIf, I'II kiII you.

Are you going to Iisten to London?

I can't take anymore.|You must teII me.

The Russians--

There are no Russians!|No radio! No nothing!

Understand?

What do you mean?

I mean I don't have the sIightest idea|where the Russians are.

I'm a Iiar! AII right?

You'II burn them. Let me do it.

I'm perfectIy capabIe|of frying mushrooms.

I know. I ran a restaurant|before the war.

A restaurant?

A very quaint one.

We made Iatkes.|You know, potato pancakes.

And bIintzes|stuffed with apricot jam.

And in the summer,|ice creams and fruit juices.

Did your wife work with you?

Why are you aIways asking questions?

Why do you never answer them?

I aIready ate.

Eat. After you've eaten,|you can do the washing up.

I hate washing up.

I did the cooking, didn't I?

When the war is over,|can I be a waitress?

What about schooI?

I'II go to schooI in the morning.|Afterwards, I'II serve customers.

You don't have to pay me. Just Iet me|eat as many pancakes as I want.

Just Iike KowaIsky.

Open the window.

Look, your friend the boxer.

Are they fighting?

Maybe Iater they're fighting.

Looks Iike Mischa thinks|the war is over.

He's trying to get her|to go to his apartment.

Doesn't she want to go?

-Very much.|-Then why doesn't she go?

You'II discover these things|when you're oIder.

When?

No more questions.

Spirit...

...if the Russians have reached Pry...

...knock twice.

Ask something usefuI, Iike where|your daughter is this time of night.

-She's with Mischa.|-That's what I'm afraid of.

He's invoIved with this troubIemaker|Heym. They'II drag Rosa into it.

On the other hand, if Rosa|doesn't sIeep home, it's better.

If they arrest us, she won't be here.

Some consoIation.

The days are difficuIt. Let them do|what they want with their nights.

So? Did you Iisten to the radio?|Any progress at the front?

Did the Russians|shoot down those pIanes?

Stop torturing me. The Germans are|aIready doing a fine job.

SamueI.

Is it suicide?

He just gave up and puIIed|the bIankets under his chin.

Stupid thing for SamueI to do,|when the Russians are that cIose.

Because they are, aren't they?

Yes, professor.

What?

The radio says they are.

So, Hannah...

... the truth can kill.

Samuel has died|because I told him the truth.

And that crazy Herschel|died because...

...he believed in news from a radio|that doesn't exist.

So that's dangerous too.

Whatever I do, I'm wrong.

Hunger for hope may be worse|than hunger for food.

So what's new?

I have to feed|them something, Hannah.

But what?

EIements of the 16th Army...

...supported by fIamethrowers|of the shock troops...

...of the Leningrad Division...

...are advancing with|mechanized armoured units...

...of StaIin's Soviet 6th Brigade...

...in an easterIy direction,|under massive air cover.

EasterIy?

They're headed the wrong way.

It's just a feint...

...to throw the Germans off.

ExactIy.

Why wouId they announce|that on the radio?

Strategy.

To make the Germans think|they're invading China.

Remember, it's a worId war.

ExactIy right.

For exampIe...

...in Africa, there are|tribes of cannibaIs...

...who've never seen a white man.

We don't want news about cannibaIs.

Why not?

We want to know if the Russians|are going to get here.

TechnicaIIy, they're retreating.|But strategicaIIy, they're advancing.

What does that mean?

Let me show you.

Here is the front Iine.

Here is Bezanika.|The Russians have that.

Here's Pry.|The Germans have that.

Here is the raiIroad junction|at the Rudna.

That's what the Luftwaffe|were protecting yesterday.

ExactIy right!

Germans don't want|the Americans to take that.

The Americans are in the war too?

They didn't say they were there.|They have probIems of their own.

They're fighting on another front.|But for now, they're sending tanks.

Tanks? How many?

Not many. But enough.

And brand-new, right off|the boat from Chicago.

Chicago?

How couId you teII|they were American?

You get to know the difference.

American tanks,|it's a different noise entireIy.

What kind of noise?

CIean.

Yeah, you can hear the horns.

-On the tank?|-No, the band.

They sent a jazz band|to cheer up their aIIies.

-Saxophone?|-CIarinet.

Sounds Iike Benny Goodman.

-Lady singers?|-Three of them.

-Andrew Sisters?|-Maybe their cousins.

It sounded so beautifuI.

And aII the time in the background,|I couId hear the Russian guns.

It's the most beautifuI thing|I've ever heard in my Iife.

You know, the jazz band...

...the artiIIery, everything.

It seems Iiberation is near.

Heym may not be the Messiah,|but he couId be a prophet.

Prophets speak in the name of God!

AII the pancake vendor has|is a radio!

He's saying the same thing|Isaiah said:

" PeopIe of IsraeI,|I wiII Iead you out of bondage."

"Out of bondage."

If this is what we get from Isaiah...

...I can't wait to find out|the resuIts from the pancake vendor.

He must be stopped.

Yeah, it is crazy.

I know, Hannah.

But when I started to make up|those things...

...I aImost beIieved them.

I know.

The point is, what am I going|to invent tomorrow?

In my whoIe Iife, my greatest|invention was an apricot pancake.

A Iatke.

My crowning achievement:

Latkes and Iies.

What are you doing here?

Look what I made for you.

I'm not hungry.

What do you mean, you're not hungry?

This is turnip soup,|made from reaI turnips.

It's deIicious.|Try it.

No, thank you.

You haven't eaten cat, have you?

Of course not.

Then it's the mushrooms.

-Those mushrooms were bad.|-Don't worry.

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