i cant pretend to think anything i do will change what they are , but i have to try . no sooner did i receive my tray when some sergeant marched into the room and announced , `` twenty minutes . he did n't say anything , but moved aside so i could get by . i gazed him like an angry tigress . with the ground frozen by winter , scanty supplies , and practically nonexistent medical care , the very old and the very young had suffered terribly . `` we never see the signs we do n't want to see . 