CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

We took the road leading out of town and very soon came upon heavy traffic, all headed in the same direction. I could not see where the line of cars in front of us ended. I got out of the ambulance and walked about a mile down the road to see how bad traffic was. Even after a mile, there was no end in sight. I walked back and found the driver, Piani, asleep inside of our car. I decided to sleep too. A couple of hours later, I woke up to the sound of the other cars' engines starting. Piani woke too and we followed the cars in front of us as they moved forward a couple of feet and then stopped again.

"This is going to take a very long time," I said, "I'm going to see how everyone else is doing."

I walked back to the other ambulances. I found that two of my drivers, Bartolomeo and Aymo, had picked up two young women. The drivers were smiling and touching the legs of the older of the two women. She looked angry and frightened.

"Look at her, Tenente," said Aymo, "She thinks I'm going to do something to her." He turned back toward her and said, "You think we want sex, but there's no room for sex in here." He then laughed and turned to face me again. The girl did not respond. She only put her arms around the other girl and stared angrily at Aymo. "See," he said to me, "They don't understand a word we say."

I asked the girls if they were sisters and they said that they were. They spoke a different kind of Italian that I was not familiar with. I put my hand on her knee to try and comfort her, but this just frightened her even more. Bartolomeo then asked the older sister if they had ever had sex before. Both of them said they had not. He then gave them a piece of cheese and told them that they were safe. This seemed to make them feel better. I then checked the other car and found that the driver, Bonello, had picked up two Italian Army men. He asked me if it was all right for them to ride with him. I said it was.

I went back to my car and slept some more. In my sleep, I dreamed that I was in bed with Catherine. In my dream, I told her that I missed her and that she should never feel that I was far away. I told her that I never stopped thinking about her, and so, in a way, I was always with her. I must have talked in my sleep because when I woke up, Piani was laughing. Luckily, my dream had been in English, so he could not completely understand. We started to move again but only a very short distance. The rain was still coming down hard. I did not know if the problem was because of the rain or if it was because people were falling asleep in their cars up a head. I decided we needed to get out of this line and take another road. None of us were familiar with the other road, but staying here would surely mean being caught by the enemy.

I gave the other drivers the order to leave the line. Soon, we were driving along a small muddy road, away from the long line of the highway. We did not know where it would take us, but we felt it was worth the risk. I allowed the two sisters and the two Army men to come along.

Eventually, we came upon an old stone house. Our car's engine needed water, so we pulled over to see if there was a well at the house. Luckily, there was. After getting the water we needed, we went into the home to see if anyone was there. It was empty. The basement, however, had a good amount of food storage. We took some cheese and bread, as well as some apples. Upstairs, we found a couple of barrels of red wine. We filled our water bottles with it and then went back out to our cars. I saw one of the Army men leaving the house with a clock in his hand. I told him to put it back. He did as I said, but it was clear, by the look he gave me, that I had now made an enemy.

The two girls, meanwhile, had never left their car. They were too afraid of what we might try to do to them inside the house. We brought them some food, which they happily accepted and ate very quickly. Then we got back on the road and continued on our journey.

(end of section)