2792,

you really think that Communists should put out their eyes? You, who have given so many people the gift of health?
But that's preposterous! Tomas cried in self-defense. Why don't you read what I wrote?
I have read it, said the man from the Ministry in a voice that was meant to sound very sad.
Well, did I write that Communists ought to put out their eyes?
That's how everyone understood it, said the man from the Ministry, his voice growing sadder and sadder.
If you'd read the complete version, the way I wrote it originally, you wouldn't have read that into it. The published version was slightly cut.
What was that? asked the man from the Ministry, pricking up his ears. You mean they didn't publish it the way you wrote it?
They cut it.
A lot?
By about a third.
The man from the Ministry appeared sincerely shocked. That was very improper of them.
Tomas shrugged his shoulders.
You should have protested! Demanded they set the record straight immediately!
The Russians came before I had time to think about it. We all had other things to think about then.
But you don't want people to think that you, a doctor, wanted to deprive human beings of their right to see!
Try to understand, will you? It was a letter to the editor, buried in the back pages. No one even noticed it. No one but the Russian embassy staff, because it's what they look for.
Don't say that! Don't think that! I myself have talked to many people who read your article and were amazed you could have written it. But now that you tell me it didn't come out the way you wrote it, a lot of things fall into place. Did they put you up to it?
To writing it? No. I submitted it on my own.
Do you know the people there?
What people?
The people who published your article.
No.
You mean you never spoke to them?
They asked me to come in once in person.
Why?
About the article.
And who was it you talked to?
One of the editors.
What was his name?
Not until that point did Tomas realize that he was under interrogation. Al