Chapter 9 Nine

Nine One spring evening in late March, when there was no snow on the ground, and the starlings were singing in the hospital garden, Andrey Yefimitch sent his friend the postmaster to the gate.Just at this moment the Jew Mosheika, returning with his booty, had just entered the courtyard.He was barefoot in galoshes, hatless, and carried a small bag of begging in his hand. "Give me a little money!" he said to the doctor with a smile, shivering from the cold. Andrey Yefimitch, who never refused, gave him a ten-copeck piece. "How bad it is," he thought, looking at Mosieka's bare feet and thin, red ankles. "It's all soaked."

A feeling half sympathy and disgust stirred in him, and he followed the Jew toward the side house, looking now at his bald head, now at his ankles.No sooner had the doctor entered the room than Nikita jumped up from the pile of rubbish and stood upright. "Good day, Nikita," said Andrey Yefimitch gently, "you'd better give the Jew a pair of boots, or he'll catch a cold." "Yes, sir. I must report to the Bursar." "Excuse me. You can ask him in my name, just say I asked you to do it." The door from the outer room to Ward Six was open.Lying on the bed, Ivan Dmitry raised himself on his elbows, listened to the stranger's voice with alarm, and suddenly recognized the doctor.Trembling with anger, he jumped out of bed, blushed, staring, and ran to the center of the ward with a fierce look on his face.

"The doctor is here!" he cried, laughing. "At last! I congratulate you, gentlemen, the doctor has come to visit us! Damned bastard!" He stomped his feet, the appearance was never seen by anyone in the ward, "Kill this bastard to death! No, he will not be relieved if he is killed! He should be thrown into the cesspit and drowned!" When Andrey Yefimitch heard this, he looked into the sick-room from the outer room, and asked softly: "Why is that?" "Why?" cried Ivan Dmitri, approaching him menacingly, and tremblingly wrapped himself in his sick clothes. "Why? You are a thief!" he said in disgust, puffing out his mouth. , seemed to want to slap him, "Liar! Executioner!"

"Be quiet, please," said Andrey Yefimitch, smiling apologetically, "I assure you that I have never stolen anything, and you may be exaggerating the rest. I can see that you Angry with me. Please be quiet, I stand against you, and if you can, tell me calmly: why are you angry?" "Why did you lock me up here?" "Because you are sick." "Yes, I'm sick. But you know, there are hundreds of crazy people who move freely, because you stupid people can't tell who is crazy and who is healthy. Why should I and these few unfortunate people, like Scapegoated, locked up here? You, the medics, the Bursar, and all the bad guys in your hospital are morally meaner than any of us here, why are we locked up instead of Not you? What logic?"

"It has nothing to do with morality and logic. Everything depends on chance. Whoever is locked up stays here; whoever stays free moves about freely. That's all. As for me being a doctor, you It's psychotic, there's nothing moral about it, there's no logic to it, it's just an unreasonable coincidence." "I don't understand this nonsense..." said Ivan Dmitry in a low voice, sitting down on his bed. Moseyka spread a lot of bread, banknotes, and fruit stones on the bed, as Nikita was ashamed to search him in the doctor's presence.Still shivering with cold, he spoke Jewish quickly in a melodious voice.Probably he thought he was running a shop again.

"Let me out," said Ivan Dmitry, his voice trembling. "I can not." "Why not? Why?" "Because it doesn't depend on me. Think about it, if I let you go, what will you gain? Go out, but the townspeople or the police will catch you and bring you back." "Yes, yes, it's true..." said Ivan Dmitry, wiping his brow, "it's terrible! Then what shall I do? What shall I do?" Andrey Yefimitch liked Ivan Dmitry's voice, his youthful, intelligent face, and his sad countenance.He wanted to be kind to the young man, to comfort him.He sat next to him on the bed, thought for a while and said:

"You asked what to do. In your situation, it is best to get out of here. But, unfortunately, it is useless. You will be caught. Once society treats criminals, mental patients and ordinary people A society that guards against and isolates the misfit is invincible. There is only one way for you: settle down and decide that your presence is necessary." "It's not necessary for anyone." "If there are prisons and madhouses, someone has to live in them. Either you or me, or me or someone else. Just wait, in the distant future, prisons and madhouses will no longer exist, and then there will be no more prisons and madhouses." There will be these bars and madman's suits again. There is no doubt that this time will come sooner or later."

Ivan Dmitry smiled coldly. "You're joking," he said, narrowing his eyes, "gentlemen like you and your assistant Nikita have nothing to do with the future, but you can trust, my sympathetic sir, that better times will come! Make fun of me, if I say it plainly, but the dawn of a new life will shine on the earth, truth will prevail, and there will be great festivals in our streets! I can't wait for that day, I'm dead, but we Descendants of the world will wait. I congratulate them from the bottom of my heart, I am happy, I am happy for them! Go ahead! God bless you, friends!"

Ivan Dmitry's eyes lit up, he stood up, stretched out his hands towards the window, and continued in an excited voice: "For these bars I bless you! Long live the truth! I am happy!" "I don't think there's any particular reason to be happy," said Andrey Yefimitch, who also liked Ivan Dmitri's acting as if he were acting. "Even if there are no prisons and madhouses." , the truth has won as you just said, but the essence of things will not change, and the laws of nature will remain the same. People will still get sick, grow old, and die, just like now. No matter how bright the dawn of the future shines on your life, in the end people Still have to be nailed into a coffin and thrown into a grave."

"And what about eternal life?" "Hey, where are the words!" "You don't believe it, hey, but I do. I don't know if it's in Dostoevsky or Voltaire's book that if there is no God, then people will make him. ① I am convinced that if there is no Immortality, then the great human intelligence will make it sooner or later." ①French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694-778) once proposed that "if God does not exist, he should be created".Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky quoted this line in his novel The Brothers Karamazov, adding: "And indeed, man made God."

"Well said," said Andrey Yefimitch, smiling cheerfully, "it's good that you have faith. People who have faith can live happily even if they are walled in. Where are you?" educated somewhere?" "Yes, I went to college, but I didn't finish it." "You are a thoughtful, contemplative being. You can find peace of mind in any situation. Free and deep thinking aimed at finding out the meaning of life, an utter contempt for the pomp and frivolity of the world—that is what man has hitherto been The two highest happiness so far. You can have this happiness even if you live behind three iron bars. Diogenes lived in a barrel, but he was happier than all the emperors on earth." ②Diogenes, an ancient Greek philosopher, pursued extreme asceticism. It is said that he lived in a large wooden barrel. "Your Diogenes is an idiot," said Ivan Dmitry grimly. "Why do you tell me about Diogenes, about discovering the meaning of life?" He suddenly became very angry. , jumped up, "I love life, I love life! I suffer from persecution paranoia, and I am often terrified, but sometimes my heart is full of longing for life, and then I am afraid of going crazy. I long for life, long for life !" He walked up and down the ward excitedly, lowered his voice and said: "When I fantasize, I have all kinds of hallucinations. Someone is walking towards me, and I hear voices and music. It seems to me that I am walking in the woods and wandering by the sea. How I long to be busy and toil. Life... tell me what's the news out there?" Ivan Dmitry asked, "What's going on out there?" "Would you like to know the news of the town, or the general news?" "Then tell me the city news first, and then the general news." "Well. The town is drearily dull... There is no one to talk to, not a single interesting word to hear. There are no new arrivals. However, a young doctor, Hobotov, came here not long ago." "At last he came while I was alive. Well, a scumbag?" "Yes, an uneducated man. You know, it's very strange. . . Many of our provincial towns are active and not stagnant in every respect—that is to say, they ought to have real people. But for some reason, every time someone is sent to us over there, people look down on them. What an unfortunate city!" "Yes, what an unfortunate city!" sighed Ivan Dmitry, and laughed again. "And the news in general? What are the articles in the newspapers and magazines?" It was already dark in the ward.The doctor stood up and began to talk about some important articles at home and abroad, and talked about the current trend of thought.Ivan Dmitry listened carefully, asking questions from time to time, but suddenly, as if remembering something terrible, he hastily folded his head, lay down on the bed, and turned his back to the doctor. "What's the matter with you?" asked Andrey Yefimitch. "You don't want to hear me say another word," said Ivan Dmitry roughly, "leave me alone!" "why?" "I say to you: Leave me alone! Damn it!" Andrey Yefimitch shrugged his shoulders, sighed, and went out.As he passed the outhouse he said: "Better clean up here, Nikita...the smell is awful!" "Yes, sir." "What a lovely young man!" thought Andrey Yefimitch as he went back to his lodgings. "I've lived here so long that he's probably the first person I could talk to. He's good at thinking, and he cares. thing." He sat down to read again, and then went to bed, thinking all the time of Ivan Dmitry.Waking up the next morning, he remembered that he had met an intelligent and interesting man yesterday, and decided to visit him again when he had time.