newspaper and frost

a newspaper and frost

The winter of 1947 was very cold, the country was
exhausted, the German army that had given employment
to civilians, had surrendered and taken the train home
Mother was not one for sitting still, she secured two newspaper rounds, I was her little helper, so she could keep an eye on me.
In a courtyard, a man sat on the stone steps into his home, he sat very still and had ice on his eyebrows
I called Mother, and she said the man was dead of frost
She left to find a shop with a telephone and, a few people
had phones back then.
The police came, rang the doorbell, and a woman opened
the asked her if she knew this man, she did, it was her husband, he had been drunk, she wouldn't let him in
Well, he is sober, they said and carried him into
a green van that still has military markings on it.
Why didn't they put the man by the fireside
so he could thaw and come back to life?
I asked, my mother.
She said, the man's heart had frozen too and his soul
had left the body
What is a soul, do I have one? I asked
Yes, you have, like when you tell me lies, but insist it is true and when you go to bed, the inner voice tells you
you had lied, if you ignore that voice your heart will
will be hard and you will end up like this dead man
Mother was not a pedagog
We're not a religious household, but Mother said Jesus
was the first outspoken socialist, the priest didn't like him and complained to the Roman consul, who had Jesus put down
The consul's name was Pontious Pilatus they regretted
his decision and when on a skiing holiday in the Swiss Alps threw himself off a cliff
what do I know?
She also said, Santa Claus, was an errand boy for big
business, making us poor, buying what we didn't need.