"The Snack"

Jurgis Jankus

A concentration camp in the closing days of WWII. The prisoners are starving. The German guards are mean. The meanest is Wagner who had lost three fingers in WWI. As the Russians come closer, he relaxes a little. Kazys secures a frying pan and some strips of bacon. The men salivate as they smell the cooking meat.

Now Wagner seizes the frying pan and begins to eat while the prisoners salivate, enviously. He enjoys the food tremendously. Turns out, he was eating rat and he is shown the dead animal from which the meat came.

Kazys, the cook, disappears. The narrator joins a group of passing refugees the following day and escapes.

 About the Author: “Born and educated in Lithuania, Jurgis Jankus was acclaimed by critics and the public early in his career. He has been awarded prizes for his short stories, novels and dramas. Some of his work has been translated into English, German, Italian and other languages. Mr. Jankus is presently residing in Rochester, New York. His translator is Joseph A. Bulsys.

Short Story International #30. Sylvia Tankel, Ed. February 1982, pp. 95-102.