It took the enamel off your teeth and left it on the roof of your mouth.

 I had a drink with a captain that I knew in one of the dugouts and went back across the bridge
 I had a drink with a captain that I knew in one of the dugouts and went back across the bridge. I said.Ill bring it to you.Lets drop it anyway. I said. Tenente Gavuzzi asked. Rinin. We read.But now we will shut up. The priest smiled and blushed and shook his head.Have you seen Miss BarkleyI will bring her here. Passini said. Manera said. I say he bellows!I would like you to go to Abruzzi. Dont be a bloody hero. 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.

 Nor for the beautiful uniforms. I am very moved to see you badly wounded.I love you so and its been awful. you patriots.Im so sorry. warmed from the sun on the wall. The officers all wore helmets; betterfitting helmets. The offensive was going to start again I heard.Oh. He looked like a king. I do. It was half of the brigata Basilicata. He laughed. Fragments of enemy trench mortar shell. cartridges. He started with the upright thumb and named in their order the thumb and four fingers.

 but it was not Catherine. It was quite evident he had stolen the bonds.The captain. I said.Thats nothing. Back at the villa I went upstairs to the room.I thought you said he was a Frenchman.Good Christ I said. Always with the girls. We went along the rough new military road that followed the crest of the ridge and I looked to the north at the two ranges of mountains.She looked down at the grass.Were you in the StatesSure. And then you are so very beautiful. In the jolt of my head I heard somebody crying. I said. higher snow mountains.

 I went with him and found the dugout. marched as though they were six months gone with child. Ill be wise like you. Shall attack!The priest nodded. The priest looked up. as I said. are youNo. We passed a long column of loaded mules. but it was not successful. The ground was torn up and in front of my head there was a splintered beam of wood. the major said over his shoulder.The priest smiled.Defeat is worse. He went back inside. said Manera. jaundice.

Quite well. Incurred in the line of duty.Ive heard about it.Thats awfully nice. Let them keep their sisters in the house.I would like you to see Abruzzi and visit my family at Capracotta. The major was a little man with upturned mustaches. They all laughed. hung over the two beds.And why didnt you marryI dont know.I have to go. I said.We looked at Rinaldi talking with the other nurse. That made the bed damp and cool. You are my great and good friend and financial protector.No.

 He did not hear me. I knew. They were hospitals beyond the river. the car looking disgraced and empty with the engine open and parts spread on the work bench. After I leave here Ill go see that English and hell get you an English medal. she said. The war was changed too.What rotten luck. You are my great and good friend and financial protector. drink that. Dear Catherine. the drivers walking along beside the mules wearing red fezzes. tannic and lovely.We must shut up. the orderly said.But Scotland is England.

 I kept my arm where it was. They cant go on doing things like the Somme and not crack.No. He said it was true and by the corpse of Bacchus we would test whether it was true or not. Look how you are wounded. We drove slowly in this matting covered tunnel and came out onto a bare cleared space where the railway station had been. The lieutenant. where I sat with a friend and two glasses drinking a bottle of Asti.Yes. He had been in the war in Libya and wore two woundstripes. The Austrian army was created to give Napoleon victories; any Napoleon. Im sorry.Its not serious I hope. He bellows. yes ) with possible fracture of the skull. Tell me just exactly how it happened.

 father. she said. go to hell. At first it dropped slowly and regularly.That road will be a dirty mess.Ill just step out the door a minute. Manera said. Next week the war starts again. I sat in the high seat of the Fiat and thought about nothing. Rinaldi poured another glass. I hurried up the driveway and inside the reception hall I asked for Miss Barkley.I dont believe it. wash it out.The plain was rich with crops there were many orchards of fruit trees and beyond the plain the mountains were brown and bare.And you call me CatherineCatherine. I said.

 To the silver medal.All bersaglieriI think so. I stood up.Whats the trouble the war. A soldier came along after the last of the stragglers. I wore a real one and felt like a gunman until I practised firing it.He stood up and put on his gloves. I was experiencing the masculine difficulty of making love very long standing up. Lacerations of the scalp (he probed Does that hurt Christ. she said.Id really rather. The vineyards were thin and bare-branched too and all the country wet and brown and dead with the autumn. soldiers would. looking up from the paper. Inside they were operating on all the tables. How is your poor head I looked at your papers.

 I stroked her hair and patted her shoulder.Of course some of the bonds were not accounted for but the priest had all of the three per cent bonds and several local obligations. sitting in my trousers and an undershirt in front of the open window. I got down and went over. Let them keep their sisters in the house.It was a ghastly show. When people realize how bad it is they cannot do anything to stop it because they go crazy. Not in this ambulance business.Four for 105. He did not see me and I did not know whether to go in and report or go upstairs first and clean up. So I went to the jail. they would.We went on eating. chilblains.Im awfully sorry. if the war should end.

 she said. If they did. I gave them each a package of cigarettes. I said. I said I hoped it would go well but that he was too kind. little puppy.I went out the door and suddenly I felt lonely and empty. Hes coming to see you. Tenente Can I help in any way He was the quietest one of the four. You like herNo. It is the captain. locked in the trunk. I threw away the goddam truss so it would get bad and I wouldnt have to go to the line again.Outside the post a great many of us lay on the ground in the dark.I see.Whats the trouble the war.

 I saluted too but more moderately. My God what would a man do with a woman like that except worship her What else is an Englishwoman good forYou are an ignorant foulmouthed dago. the captain commenced picking on the priest. The town was very nice and our house was very fine. I thought it would be worse for him. Id be glad to kiss you if you dont mind. He looked at the priest and shouted. They lined them up afterward and took every tenth man. All the drivers wore puttees but Passini had only one leg. and pounded on the window to attract his attention. Ive come back to Catherine in the night. They come back for me. The attack would cross the river up above the narrow gorge and spread up the hillside. when I learned it. Manera finished. she said.

 as I said. Thats over for the evening.Defeat is worse.Whats to stop itIt will crack somewhere. Well all eat. It ought to be good.I have one. I do not believe in the Free Masons however. Hes a better man than I am.Hell say I did it on purpose. There were not enough stretchers. They will love you like a son.Goodnight.All right. They would take me as soon as possible. I will.

But Scotland is England. But its a rotten game. I stroked her hair and patted her shoulder. Its twice as big as it was this morning. The orderly brought a chair and he sat down. but it was not successful.Oh. it seemed. They were moderately clean.And why didnt you marryI dont know.Four hundred twenty or minnenwerfer. Then the stretcher bearers took the man off the table. I thought he had a fine name and he came from Minnesota which made a lovely name: Ireland of Minnesota.No.I stopped to ask if you were better. stirred by the breeze.

 Sometimes still pleasant and fond and warm and breakfast and lunch. I said. He spoke again in pidgin Italian. Sometimes all niceness gone and glad to get out on the street but always another day starting and then another night.Another American. I said.Poor man. But the Italians had crossed and spread out a little way on the far side to hold about a mile and a half on the Austrian side of the river. He would loan them mess tins if they did not have them. You must have done something heroic either before or after.Just as you like. Bacchus. You wont go awayNo. Mama mama mia.It was nearly dark when we came down and turned onto the main road that ran beside the river.It doesnt finish.

 Put it on the floor. He said that if the thing went well he would see that I was decorated.Have you seen Miss BarkleyI will bring her here. After I leave here Ill go see that English and hell get you an English medal.Where were the Hartz Mountains anyway They were fighting in the Carpathians. He had always known what I did not know and what. That is why we have this war. Tenente. He can be here until you are ready to take him.You ought to have let me know. He laughed. There is no finish to a war. wop. she said. A trench mortar shell.Dont write anything that will bother the censor.

 Through the other noise I heard a cough. I said.Whats wrong with your legIts not my leg. misunderstandings. Rocca ignored this and went on to explain the joke to me.Lets drop the war. But then he wanted to go to war and I didnt know. Isnt itWhat is the stick I asked. There were stretchers lifted and slid into the slings above.Will you tell her how sorry I amYes.Goodnight. and in the fall when the rains came the leaves all fell from the chestnut trees and the branches were bare and the trunks black with rain. The river ran behind us and the town had been captured very handsomely but the mountains beyond it could not be taken and I was very glad the Austrians seemed to want to come back to the town some time. There are some people who never realize.Rinaldi picked up the candle. The posts for the cars would have to be as near the river as they could get and keep covered.

How are you. How are you. he said.He stood up and put on his gloves. No. baby. Goodnight. Then the stretcher bearers took the man off the table. The grappa was very strong. It cost fifteen lire. This captain baited him often. there was snow on the guns and there were paths in the snow going back to the latrines behind trenches. Thats over for the evening.Have you ever loved any oneNo. with many tastes alike. It took the enamel off your teeth and left it on the roof of your mouth.