g a hollow needle into him which allowed air to cushion his lung. He went through it without a lot of pain and it helped him breathe.There had been a lot of suicides in the prison. Some of them were famous men, like a great pre-war figure in Romania. The brutalistic re-education caused unrest in many prisons and rumors spread across the country A friend of his Aristar died in February and they had to dig through deep snow and break ground ice to bury him in the prison yard, alongside Abbot Iscu, Gafencu Bacur and scores of others that he had known.Part IVRoom Four had been like an altar on which men were transformed and transfigured for their faiths. He was glad to still be alive. One man, Vasile Donaca, accepted from him a piece of string to hold up his trousers. String was a precious thin here. Donaca like a lot of men would do anything for a cigarette. The guards were the only source of tobacco, even though it was against the rules to pass it on they smoked a lot.One evening a prisoner jumped up and yelled, “stop it” “stop it”. There was a silence. He turned and ran to his bunk, where he flung himself down. His name was Josif. This guy was imprisoned for trying to reach Germany. He watched as the guy settled among the men.For a few months after Stalins death, monthly parcels from home were permitted. On the postcards they gave them he wrote asking for food, cigarettes and “Dr. Filons old clothes”. Even though he didn’t smoke he asked for a full order to give to the men. Though his tuberculosis was bad, his teeth were plaugeing him with pain. As with every prisoner, teeth had decayed from lack of food and treatment.His next months parcel included 100 grams of streptamyacin. He then gave the more serious men the medicine.As Josif was disfigured in his face from the torture, Richard told him of how Helen Keller, although blind, deaf, and dumb, became on of Americas great personalities. He was...
