The Enormous Room by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings
page 95 of 322 (29%)
page 95 of 322 (29%)
|
Separation of the sexes was enforced, not, it is true, with success, but with a commendable ferocity. The punishments for both men and girls were dry bread and _cabinot_. "What on earth is _cabinot?_" I demanded. There were various _cabinots_: each sex had its regular _cabinot_, and there were certain extra ones. B. knew all about them from Harree and Pompom, who spent nearly all their time in the _cabinot_. They were rooms about nine feet square and six feet high. There was no light and no floor, and the ground (three were on the ground floor) was always wet and often a good many inches under water. The occupant on entering was searched for tobacco, deprived of his or her mattress and blanket, and invited to sleep on the ground on some planks. One didn't need to write a letter to a member of the opposite sex to get _cabinot_, or even to call a _planton embusque_--there was a woman, a foreigner, who, instead of sending a letter to her embassy through the bureau (where all letters were read by the mail clerk to make sure that they said nothing disagreeable about the authorities or conditions of La Ferte) tried to smuggle it outside, and got twenty-eight days of _cabinot_. She had previously written three times, handing the letters to the _Surveillant_, as per regulations, and had received no reply. Fritz, who had no idea why he was arrested and was crazy to get in touch with his embassy, had likewise written several letters, taking the utmost care to state the facts only and always handing them in; but he had never received a word in return. The obvious inference was that letters from a foreigner to his embassy were duly accepted by the _Surveillant_ (Warden), but rarely, if ever, left La Ferte. |
|