UNDERGROUND

144

She considered this room in the attic a toy room, primarily because of the small round window through which she could look out like an adult without climbing onto the windowsill. Despite the thick layer of dust and mountains of rubbish, it was very comfortable here. True, she did not quite understand why her mother, who looked here for a minute, called the treasures stored here rubbish. Take this china rabbit and the German compass in the little wooden case she found under a stack of dusty newspapers in a box. A rabbit with a broken ear was clearly a Christmas toy at one time. There were many oddities in the world, but at the age of six you take these oddities for granted. For example, a tear-off calendar on the door showed the exact date - the thirtieth of July, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-six, Monday. She knew it well because, unlike most of her peers, she already knew how to read, and every day she herself tore off a sheet of the calendar from her bed. So someone came in he