—— An Unusual Operation ——87‘and you’ve been operated on. And some operation! Completely
unique. A shell or mortar fragment had driven your watch into
your stomach. It was left strewn all over. And we’ve been gathering
up the components with a master watchmaker. He told us which
were missing and I searched for them and extracted them. All the
screws and springs that were in the watch, we’ve got them all out!
So you can thank him; he’s a good master of his craft. Well, now
you must relax. You need to sleep a bit more.’ And he moved on to
the next bed, telling the sister along the way what more needed to
be done for me.
So, now collating everything that had happened to me over the
last twentyfour hours and what was gradually but episodically
drifting back into my memory, it all became clear: I had been
wounded twice – in the arm and in the stomach. I was tired
from the lengthy conversation with the doctor, although I had
not spoken but merely listened. And, closing my eyes, I sank into
oblivion, into good, tranquil sleep.
Within a few days I felt significantly better and I had already
got to know all the doctors, sisters and nurses. And not only in our
surgical department, but with others who had simply walked in to
our ‘shock’ ward. They often stopped by my bed, talked to me, and
praised the golden hands of the surgeon.
The details of the operation which this cheery man and superb
specialist had carried out were known to the entire hospital.
Except for me. Now they took pleasure in telling me about it.
It happened like this. ‘Straight onto the operating table!’ I had
heard. But when they had sorted out what was what, the surgeon
said: ‘I can’t manage without a watchmaker! Find one quickly!’
Where they found one, and so quickly, nobody knows, but they
came up with a good specialist. With his assistance all the tiny
components of the watch had been extracted from my stomach
along with rags and wadding from my trousers – all the glass, all
the screws, all the springs and cogs. True, along with them it was
necessary to remove part of the bowel, but such are the costs of
production...