‘If you really need a schilling so much’ — Perczik made one last attempt to rescue his money — ‘perhaps you can wait until tomorrow. I can’t go home without a penny in my pocket, now can I? I’ll bring you a schilling here tomorrow evening with pleasure. I need something to give the boy in the morning when he goes to school too. You don’t expect me to send the child out of the house without a penny! Without a penny until lunchtime!’

‘Don’t be so obstinate, Perczik. I’m not worried about you. You’ll find a way out, I’m sure. Now give me that schilling.’

Gurdweill took the coin and examined it carefully on both sides. ‘First, let’s see if it’s genuine. There’s a lot of counterfeit money going around …’

Perczik lit himself a cigarette and smoked it in silence, trying without much success to hide his anger. In the end he said with artificial friendliness: ‘Look here, Gurdweill, I’m not an expert at giving advice. That’s not my line at all, as you know. But nevertheless, I consider it my duty to tell you that it’s time you changed your way of life. The time for fantasies is past. We’re not eighteen-year-old boys any longer, for God’s sake! I too was a dreamer and a loafer once, as you know very well, but everything has to end sometime. One year, two years, five — how long can a person go hungry? And what the hell for? Perhaps you can explain to me: what for? It’s not worth it, I tell you. First, you have to fill your stomach — the rest comes later! In my opinion, you should look for a job. That’s my honest opinion. You can’t live from hand to mouth forever. What do all the young writers do? One works at this and another at that. I was lucky, I found work on a newspaper — and I snapped it up! They don’t pay a person a decent salary, but it’s better than nothing and you can go on working for yourself at the same time. Look at me. Only last week I finished a long story. You can go on writing, believe me!’