CHAPTER TWO

The next spring, I returned to the same town and found that it had not changed at all, except that it was greener and there were more guns and hospitals. I found that my Army unit was still staying in the same house. Upstairs, in my room, I found my bed tidy and my things untouched. My roommate, lieutenant Rinaldi, woke up when he heard me come in.

"Hello! Welcome back! How were your travels?"

"Excellent!" I said. We hugged and kissed each other.

"Did you have any girls?" he asked.

"Yes, of course! In Milan, Firenze, Roma, Napoli ... The best was in Milan."

"Wonderful! You'll have to tell me everything tonight! I need to go back to sleep and rest up for my night with Miss Barkley. Don't look so surprised. We've got lots of pretty English girls here now. This one's mine and I'm thinking I might even marry her once the war's over."

"That's great! But, tell me. Why is the town so quiet? Isn't anybody working now?"

"We have only several patients. I heard people saying that the fighting would begin again next week. I don't know. Do you think it's alright that Miss Barkley becomes my wife?"

"Sure! Definitely!"

He smiled and went back to sleep. As I washed my face in the basin, I looked at Rinaldi resting on his bed. He was a handsome guy, from Amalfi, and a very good friend of mine. He loved being a doctor.

"Can you lend me some money? About fifty?" he asked me.

I gave him some, and he thanked me.

In the evening, I went to the dining hall and found the young priest from Abruzzi there. He became upset when he learned that I did not visit his family during my travels. He had written to his father and they had prepared for me to come. I felt ashamed and apologized as best as I could. I had truly wanted to go, but I could not explain why I did not go. Sometimes we just never let ourselves do the things we want to do. It was hard to explain having enjoyed the hot, wild and smoky nights of Rome and Naples when I could have gone North to his cool, quiet and beautiful town of Abruzzi. Eventually, he understood that I had intended to go to his hometown and our friendship was saved. Then the voice of the captain interrupted our conversation.

"You are sad, because you have no women!" he shouted at the priest. "You need your five women! And you're angry with us because you want our enemies to win. You like Austrians, especially Austrian women!"

"No. None of that's true," answered the priest.

We told the captain to leave the priest alone and then left the dining hall.

(end of section)