V.Loan me fifty lire. Not Ba?chus.

 smoking
 smoking. The lieutenant. Dont you read it. Some of the wounded were noisy but most were quiet. ha! he said. the major said. She did not seem tall walking toward me but she looked very lovely. In the town there were more guns. Im awfully tired. Some looked pretty bad. Gavuzzi handed me the basin of macaroni.The room I shared with the lieutenant Rinaldi looked out on the courtyard.Not true asked the captain. Were you on permissionYes. I wished we had a Napoleon.

 lootenant. 206 arent youYes. Sometimes I think you and he are a little that way. It was all right if she was. Tenente. It cost fifteen lire. he said.I knocked over his candle with the pillow and got into bed in the dark. go to hell.Ah. the others dusty.Fine. I am an atheist.That night at the mess I sat next to the priest and he was disappointed and suddenly hurt that I had not gone to the Abruzzi. Inside there was a light.

 tipping their heads back.You must go on leave at once.He took off his gloves.And what did he say asked the priest. The orderly brought a chair and he sat down. Goodnight. They were hospitals beyond the river. Your friend is a doctor.Priest today with girls. Name he asked softly.The drops fell very slowly. New girls never been to the front before. I am positive you will get the silver.I have to go. I went back to the drivers.

He cant do anything about it anyway. Its beautiful language. There were lighted candles on the table. He brought them over to me.You are sweet. long 6. You will be good to me. marched as though they were six months gone with child. They were sweaty. He stopped working and smiled.You think notNo. felt the brake come off and the clutch go in.Sit down to it. I talked with the major and learned that when it should start and our cars should be loaded we would drive them back along the screened road and up to the main road along the ridge where there would be a post and other cars to clear them.Goodnight.

 holding their chins close over the basin. Florence. We drove slowly in this matting covered tunnel and came out onto a bare cleared space where the railway station had been. maybe yes. I sat now in the chair and an orderly of some sort looked at me disapprovingly from behind a desk while I looked at the marble floor.Whats to stop itIt will crack somewhere.Bersaglieri have run too. Tenente. If youve got a fracture you dont want inflammation. Well all eat.They are big through the chest by measurement. havent youBut I lost the truss. I was angry and yet certain. Perhaps.Yes.

 I had met two gunners from that lot. The river was low and there were stretches of sand and pebbles with a narrow channel of water and sometimes the water spread like a sheen over the pebbly bed. Fragments of enemy trench mortar shell. Come with me if you want. Didnt you see itNo. There was another stretcher by the side with a man on it whose nose I could see.Not Strega. gonorrhea. Middle name First name Rank Where born What class What corps and so on. The snow slanted across the wind. Nothing. baby. They take your home. the major said to the two stretcher bearers.We looked at Rinaldi talking with the other nurse.

 I love you.If everybody would not attack the war would be over. Rinaldi said. Again the candlelight made its shadows on the wall. The officers all came from such good families. They were a real mask. You will please come and make me a good impression on her. thats nothing to how it will feel later. undid my tunic and tried to rip the tail of my shirt. There were three others to locate.You are crazy. Firenze.I did not.Must attack. lit it and went on reading.

 But Im back now. Well all eat.We looked at each other in the dark.Were not far from the top. I had not said it before. It seemed no more dangerous to me myself than war in the movies.Four for 105. I just tell you. I threw away the goddam truss so it would get bad and I wouldnt have to go to the line again. . baby. It was all as I had left it except that now it was spring.He held a forceps with some gauze in the end. Where have you beenIve been out on post. With a girl it is painful.

 Hes coming to see you. That made the bed damp and cool. I handed the canteen back to Passini. There was one fine cemetery thoughthe one at Pisa. The sun was going down and looking up along the bank as we drove I saw the Austrian observation balloons above the hills on the other side dark against the sunset. Why did you do itI dont know. Then I will take him with my first load.Those that went out were not lined up when they took the tenth men. It is protected by the little hill. After a while the stream from the stretcher above lessened and started to drip again and I heard and felt the canvas above move as the man on the stretcher settled more comfortably. I said.Oh. he said. I heard the machine guns and rifles firing across the river and all along the river. He spread the hand again.

 I asked what time the attack was to he and they said as soon as it was dark. There was fighting in the mountains and at night we could see the flashes from the artillery. and pounded on the window to attract his attention. They had come back for him. the bare ground was covered. Walking home Rinaldi said. stupid from inexperience. I hope you feel better.Do the men know that who attackI dont think so.Have you done nursing longSince the end of fifteen. and put on a dressing. I wouldnt be able to get the stretcher out alone.Yes. Really. were on the trunk.

 The priest smiled and blushed and shook his head. Doesnt anybody work nowSince you are gone we have nothing but frostbites. the orderly looking after us. I kissed both her shut eyes. I wished I were in Milan with her. It seemed no more dangerous to me myself than war in the movies. The others listened. then finally it climbed quite fast. I said.I translated this for Miss Ferguson. Its only the ambulance.You dont believe me We will go now this afternoon and see. and the frescoes on the wall and waited for Miss Barkley. darling. Theres more snow there than here.

 Miss Ferguson walked away in the dark. In the jolt of my head I heard somebody crying.The priest was young and blushed easily and wore a uniform like the rest of us but with a cross in dark red velvet above the left breast pocket of his gray tunic.Ill take the American Tenente. But I thought it would be bad for him. Thank you very much.A rivederla.I did not say anything. Name he asked softly.Why didnt we see the post when we came down Passini asked. The doctors were working with their sleeves up to their shoulders and were red as butchers. Besides. you dont. Goodnight.I didnt know about anything then.

 Lacerations of the scalp (he probed Does that hurt Christ. Rinaldi shook his head. Get out of here. And you do love meYes. They have plenty of girls. sometimes it stopped. I said. he said. He took my glass and filled it. While I rubbed myself with a towel I looked around the room and out the window and at Rinaldi lying with his eyes closed on the bed. like bridge.Good Christ I said.That was a big trench mortar. Firenze. You are purer and sweeter.

Has there been any trouble getting parts I asked the sergeant mechanic. Id be glad to kiss you if you dont mind.Oughf. It would not rip and I bit the edge of the cloth to start it.Its way out.If you drop me again. He had been in the war in Libya and wore two woundstripes.Ill be right here. Put it on the floor.Do the men know that who attackI dont think so.Did they scare you. Now he was bandaging.I have to go. Catherine asked me to tell you she was sorry she couldnt see you this evening. my bed was made up with blankets and my things hung on the wall.

 He had not felt bad but now the shoulder had stiffened.I looked back and saw her standing on the steps. yes. He smiled. walking carefully in the slush. the old bridge where the railway crossed to the other side and across. said the driver in Italian looking at the hernia man. Stretcher bearers came in all the time. But if you have had it you know. I undid the clasp of the gold chain and put it around my neck and clasped it. would you he asked.Carabinieri. We were supposed to wear steel helmets even in Gorizia but they were uncomfortable and too bloody theatrical in a town where the civilian inhabitants had not been evacuated. She would not let me put my arm around her. It has been put back again.

 Something picturesque.The adjutant. she said. said Rinaldi. he said. They want to get you the medaglia dargento but perhaps they can get only the bronze.Goodnight. I handed the canteen back to Passini.Wop. wiped off the blade and pared off the dirty outside surface of the cheese.Im so sorry. Yes. stirred by the breeze. Stop it.Dont be angry.

 There was another stretcher by the side with a man on it whose nose I could see.The forest of oak trees on the mountain beyond the town was gone. I knew you was an American. I could go to Spain if there was no war.As the ambulance climbed along the road.How are you. I said I hoped it would go well but that he was too kind.Bersaglieri. Evviva lesercito. You only pretend to be American. You will come with me to see Miss Barkley. selfinflicted wounds. Im something called a V.Loan me fifty lire. Not Ba?chus.