Jan went there.
A lot of people were in the court room. Jan sat down among them and looked
like them--blank, uninterested, as if waiting for a train in the railroad
station.
One thing worried Jan. The two hours off. If they didn't call him he'd be
late and the foreman would be mad. He might lose his job, and jobs were
hard to get. It took five weeks to get this one. It would take longer now.
But they called Jan Pedlowski and he came forward to where the judge sat.
At first Jan had felt confused and frightened. He had worried about coming
to court and standing before the judge. Now it seemed all right. Everybody
was nice and businesslike. A lawyer said:
"There's almost two months' rent due now. Eighteen dollars for the
November rent and $27.50 for December."
"Can you pay the rent?" the judge asked of Jan.
Jan looked and blinked and tried to think of something to say. He could
only think of "My wife Paula ran away last night. Here, she wrote this
letter left me on the table when I come home last night."
"I see," said the judge. "But what about the rent? If I give you until
January 10, do you think you can pay it?"
"I don't know," said Jan, rubbing his eyes. "I got job now, but they going
to layoff after new year.
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