ONCE MORE, OUR MAN PITT DEUTSCH wakes himself from his gouty stupor. Is it the feverish times that wake him up, or is it the odd circumstances that his neighbors have told him about, the trouble the civil servants have caused in the stairwell? This time, Max even wants to hold his father back. He says: “Just let it be. With a little luck we soon won't need it any more. I’m probably going to do the PITTILIT thing with Maria's uncle, who’ll loan us the machinery. Just hold off a little while, we’ll get by until then.” But Pitt Deutsch isn't going to be held back anymore: “It's not enough,” he says, “that we always had to help ourselves, that we had to sell and pawn everything, that the two girls are keeping us afloat — I’m not going to take their abuse after all the taxes I’ve paid in my life. Every citizen who shows respect should be treated with respect. I’m going to talk to the supervisor and see if he thinks I’m right.”

What had happened? Oh, it's just another everyday occurrence. Because he wasn't getting unemployment benefits, Pitt applied for welfare benefits for himself, Klara, Peter, and Max. Admittedly, it was rather late for this. He waited until there was nothing left to sell or pawn. And now somebody from welfare had been there twice. Doing research. That would not have been bad and only right. The report could have simply said that the Deutsch family no longer has anything of value and is living under the most humble circumstances. More humble than some others who feel the saving blessing of welfare. But the welfare worker had made a mistake that didn't befit him. He had come by to see the Deutschs twice in a row without an appointment, and when nobody was home, he rang the doorbell of one of the Deutsch's four neighbors. This particular neighbor, unemployed for three and a half years and a Communist to boot, had a snappy answer to the question of where the Deutschs were. “How should I know? They’re not sick, so why should they stay home?”