Bathrooms

Werner wasn't granted access to the lab the next morning; he wasn't even allowed to enter the building. An officer at the front told him to turn around and go back. Werner had asked what he should do; the officer had told him that they were short on guards and he could fill in the position. Werner tried to pry information out of the man, but he wasn't as cunning as Nikolai and didn't manage. He could tell that it didn't have to do with him personally, there was something going on in that building that no one was allowed to see. Defeated, he turned around and travelled across camp, joining the guards as a forlorn post on the east side. 

He couldn't stop thinking about why they'd denied him entry. What had happened? Had there been an accident? Had they found out about the cooperation? He lay far from the truth, and he'd never suspected to be interrogated in several days. Werner pushed away the thoughts and lit a cigarette. One was permitted to smoke on guard. He stared at the tall fence. It was ugly, as ugly as ugly can be. 

A door opening caught his eye. It was about fifty meters away; in part of the camp that wasn't used much. He recognized Nikolai immeditally, but the Russian didn't see him. He was smiling and whistling, straightened his coat and - buckled his belt. Werner had been unaware that there was a bathroom there. He made a mental note that if he'd have to go later, he could go there. He'd often thought about pissing on the eletric fence, but as a kid he'd heard someone say that you could get a shock from that. He wasn't sure if it was true, but he didn't want to find out. 

Nikolai disappeared and the scene became uninteressting again. Werner leaned against the cold brick wall. He couldn't wait for spring. It was simply too cold; especially to be on watch. Inside the lab it was always warmer, warm enough to forget the cold outside. He flicked the cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out with his heel. Cancer or no cancer, smoking was fun, espieccially tredding it out at the end. Werner wasn't sure if it was considered littering and he wasn't sure if one was allowed to throw the butts on the floor, but he didn't care. There was no one to tell him off anyway. 

The door across the sqaure opened again; the same door Nikolai had come out of five minutes earlier. To Werner's suprise the Lagerführer stepped out. He was also smiling, but his smile died as soon as he set eyes on Auschwitz. To Werner it seemed like he'd forgotten where he was for a second. Waking up in Auschwitz wasn't a nice surprise. The Lagerführer ran his hand through his hair and then put his cap on, and with the cap on his head all traces of the young and gracefull man dissapeared, the wrinkles next to his smiling eyes creased into lines and his whole aura became intimidating and elegant. He returned to being the head of the camp, to being everything expect for the man he was. He too dissappeared without ever noticing Werner. 

Having seen both men use the bathroom made Werner feel the urge too. He glanced around, nobody was there to notice him leave his post. So he quickly walked over to the door. He'd only be away for five minutes, nobody would see it right? But he was still nervous, being caught leaving your position was moderatly punishable. He picked up his pace, fast-walking to the toilet. 

But when he swung open the door he was surprised to find that it wasn't a bathroom. It was a small room with levers and other buttons on one wall and nothing else. There was no second door one could enter it through. Werner was puzzled for a second, and then he realized what he'd witnessed. Nikolai and the Lagerführer had been in here at the same time. It wasn't a bathroom. 

He bumbled out of the room in shock. The second he was out he peered back in. There really wasn't a second door. Nikolai had buckled his belt when he'd left, he'd smiled, and so had the Lagerführer. As much as Werner didn't want to believe it, he had to and he did. Maybe Nikolai really wasn't as straight as he'd thought he'd been. But didn't he have a wife? Werner was too overwhelmed to think about what he'd witnessed. He shut the door and trudged back to his post.

He ignored what had happened completely. He pretended it had never happened. There was a small chance that he'd mininterpreted what he'd seen, right? To men leaving a room with smiles on their faces could be because of an agreement or because of a secret meeting. Maybe the Lagerführer was a soviet spy as well? But deep down Werner knew he was being ridicoulous. Nikolai or whoever 'Vitya' really was, was having an affair with the Lagerführer.