PIPSQUEAK WARD
Our pipsqueak existence unfolded, as I said before, in two wards on the third floor. In one small ward, made of two cells of the former jail, the younger pipsqueaks, the Mensheviks, were held, and in the larger ward of three cells, we lived, the Bolsheviks. As was proper, we oppressed the Mensheviks according to the law of seniority.
The remains of brick walls between the former cells divided the large ward into three. The three barred windows were opposite three doorways; in two doorways where the doors were firmly sealed, there were small tables for exercises and games, and in the third doorway there was a functioning door.
If the youngest had to obey us, in our turn we unfailingly obeyed the lads and the dudes, which meant that we had to kowtow to them according to the
