so you are pk.
i am kommandant von zyl. the professor has requested you to be his visitor so you can continue your studies on piano and he can continue with his studies on cactus. this is the first specimen?
the professor taught you this, ja? of course to your english town he is a prisoner, a criminal. to us who respect such learning and culture, he is an honored guest.
this pass is good for any time, any day. would you like to see him now?
come. i will take you myself. von zyl rises and opens the door for pk. they exit.
we have cleared a little plot behind the cellblock for the cactus. and tomorrow we have the professor's piano moved here. there is not another instrument like it in the territory. maybe one day the two of you can give a concert for us, hey?
you like to box?
no, no. the sons of the guards. see that one there? (points to a
we have room for one more on the squad? smit looks down at pk.
we'll build him up then.
there must be someone.
lieutenant, a word?
where is bormann? i need bormann to translate to the prisoners.
i want to address these filthy kaffirs but i don't have a translator.
you can speak zulu, pk?
all right. listen up.
tell them this concert is the gift to them from the professor who, even though he is in prison, is not a dirty criminal like them but a man of culture and learning.
for such a man i am happy to do this. but one hair of trouble and it's finish.
one wrong move and you get marched back to your cells and don't come out for a month.
you did a good job.
professor?
since his pneumonia last year i've had one of the men drop by once a week to see if he needed anything. of course you know the professor. he never did. pk looks out at the cactus garden, watered now by drip irrigation.
at the beginning of the week he wasn't home so i decided to drop by myself. waited a whole day here. when he didn't come back i sent search parties. after three days i sent the telegram. seven days is a long time for him to be gone. do you have any ideas where he went?