Free Diary of the Fall by Michel Laub Page B

perhaps, with rare and enviable luck among the million and a half prisoners who passed through the camp, a shoe that was just the right size, was he thinking about that when he opened the door of his apartment, walked over to the stairs and fell down the stairwell, an occurrence that almost none of his biographers believes to have been accidental.
5.
    Death begins in many ways, and I don’t know if my grandfather ever managed to pinpoint the seed, the crucial moment when it ceased to matter that he had survived Auschwitz who knows how, and left there in who knows what state, and recovered in Poland or in Germany or who knows where, and managed to get himself on a boat heading for Brazil after overcoming who knows what difficulties, because fromthat moment on it was pretty clear that he would spend the rest of his life much as Primo Levi did. The only difference is that, instead of leading an apparently normal family life and decades later throwing himself down a stairwell, he led an apparently normal family life and decades later began writing those notebooks.
6.
    Milk — a liquid food with a creamy texture, which as well as containing calcium and other substances essential to the organism has the advantage of not being highly susceptible to the development of bacteria. Milk is the perfect source of nourishment to be taken by a man when he is about to spend the morning alone
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7.
    I saw a film once in which the son goes into his father’s office and discovers that all the drawers are filled with loose cigarettes arranged in neat rows, this happens the day after his father has had a nervous breakdown in the shower and smashed the glass door, and I wonder if something similar occurred with my father when he read the first page or the first line of those sixteen notebooks.
8.
    Sesefredo — guesthouse in the center of Porto Alegre, a clean spacious establishment, quiet in the mornings and cozy and welcoming when night falls, located in a building that is perfectly solid despite having survived afire and that has a pleasant aspect to the sun, located in a street full of commercial establishments of unimpeachable reputation such as a kennel and a butcher’s shop. Any guest of the Sesefredo who falls ill is sure to be well treated thanks to its owners’ kindness, which manifests itself in their sympathetic, cordial manners, in German, and with a rigorous attention to hygiene during the period in which, due to his need for healthful repose, he cannot be disturbed while alone in his room
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9.
    Kennel — a place of long, brightly lit corridors run by professionals of the highest human and social caliber and where the animals are treated according to the most rigorous and humane of hygiene regimes. Anyone visiting the kennel will be provided with all the information he requires on the health of the animals as well as their legal position and the necessary adoption procedures and he can enjoy the small lawned courtyard and the
wooden bench where a man who wants to sit there alone will be undisturbed by the noise of barking or other disagreeable sounds
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10.
    Pregnancy — condition in which the wife spends entire months without a single illness and in no danger of diseases of the uterus or of high blood pressure. The wife learns she is pregnant and immediately tells her husband so that he can take the necessary decision: to have the child or not? A decision taken by him without hesitation because it crowns the expectation of a new life that has long been planned by him, his profound desire for continuity and a loving, giving relationship. His wife’s pregnancy is observed with joy on his part and accompanied by him with diligence and love, confirming the good luck he has always enjoyed in life. During the wife’s pregnancy, she is directed by the doctor and by her husband to apply the most rigorous hygiene procedures during the pregnancy, making due use in the home of alcohol and disinfectant, laundry soap, brooms, mops and