The Door

by Magda Szabó

her furniture did not include a bed. Instead she took short naps on a tiny couch, a so-called “lovers’ seat”. She claimed that the moment she lay down she became weak. Sitting gave her proper support for her aching back. Lying down, she felt dizzy. No, she didn’t need a bed.

“I hid the German because his leg — what little was left of it after the machine gun caught him — was falling off. I thought, if they found him they’d beat him to death. Then I stuck the Russian in with him, at the closed-off end of the cellar. They just stared at one another.