CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

That summer, my legs got better very quickly. I was getting lots of exercise and treatment at the hospital where I had originally got my X-ray. The bad thing about getting better was that Catherine could not spend as much time outside with me. Now that I could walk pretty well on my own, the hospital felt I no longer needed to be accompanied by a nurse.

In the afternoons, after exercising, I would go to the Cafés around town and read the newspaper. It sounded like we were doing well against the Austrians, but in the west, things were not going as well. There was still much more fighting to be done and Italy had already given so many of its men. I could not imagine how the war could continue for much longer. And yet, at the same time, it seemed like it could go on forever.

I met people often while walking the streets in Milan. So I never became lonely without Catherine. Just outside of a Café I met Mr and Mrs Meyers. They had just been at the racetrack. We greeted one another politely. I asked how they did at the races. Mr Meyers said he had done fairly well, but I could tell that he had probably made a lot of money. Mrs Meyers promised she would come visit me in the hospital soon. She said she loved all the Italian boys in the war.

After leaving the Meyers, I went and had a couple of drinks with some Army friends of mine. One of them was studying opera singing. The other guy there was a captain who considered himself a hero and never stopped talking about himself the whole time we were together. I respected his bravery, but he loved himself a bit too much. Catherine hated him, and when I told her later that evening that I had met him for drinks, she expressed how happy she was that she had not been there with us.

"Listen to that rain out there," I said.

"Yes, it's really coming down. It frightens me."

"Really? Why?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Come on. I want to know."

"Well ... if you must know ... it's because I can see us in the rain ... dying."

"Of course, that's just silliness. We'll be fine. I rather like the rain."

"I wish I did too," she said with tears beginning to roll down her face. I put my arms around her and the tears stopped coming. However, it did not stop the rain.

(end of section)