Part 15

"Let's go inside!" he replied, and shoved at his skull bandage, its awkwardness annoying him.

In the hospital corridor, peering at his sliced off shoulder, seeing himself in a hall mirror, he said:

"Only fools return to the country that does this kind of thing to them! Only the craziest of fools."

"Orv, let's not talk like that. It will get us nowhere."

As she wheeled him toward his room, he said:

"When I have gotten hold of a Woolworth arm, let's get married."

"Please don't joke," she said, afraid of his humor, afraid that she could not bear up.

He said nothing more until they were inside his room.

She offered him his medication but he pushed it away.

"The war news is encouraging. No doubt Germany's beaten. I can make a try at things back home. A try at living. I'm serious, Jean. Listen to me. Sit down and listen ...

"I want to marry you. Will it be all right? Just don't pity me--understand! We can get married in, in Rethel, if you wish. You can decide where. Will you? I love you ... Let's try to make a go of it. Shall we?" He asked, and yet he knew how little he had to offer. As a swimmer, he recognized, he was far from shore.

Her face softened and became very beautiful. Bending over him, she kissed him lovingly, and then laughed, laughed sadly, agreeing: we'll likely make out pretty well.

"All right ... it's okay ... we'll get married in Rethel."

"As soon as I can ... soon as you wish."

"I'm glad, darling."

A red barn and lots of snow, she thought. I'll be able to aid him, in Wisconsin, in New York.

"Please help me into bed ... I'll do my best ... I have to say it ... it won't be easy!"

Settled under the covers, he lay motionless, stiff, tired, his fingers in hers, the undercurrent of doubt coursing through him: too soon they would be aware of daily dilemmas and responsibilities: plugging through life alone might be more difficult; together they might knock down a few hazards.

Probably a B-29 would fly them to New York; on back pay they might honeymoon in the Adirondacks; then, by train--the Black Diamond--to Ithaca; they would rent an apartment overlooking Cayuga. Sometimes he would see his mother. He would obtain architectural jobs. There must be clever ways to produce models. Maybe _papier mache_ or wood.

He remembered his dad ... remembered the island of poplars, shadows on the island, swans, the carved white tomb reflected in the Petit Lac ... he remembered a fire in a Caen stone fireplace, Jeannette on her bike, her hair streaming in the wind.

* * * * *

If you enjoyed this book, another novel by Paul Alexander Bartlett is

*WHEN THE OWL CRIES*

This book is available in a variety of free downloadable formats from Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40245.

What reviewers had to say about _When the Owl Cries_:

"As you turn the pages you ask, what next? That is the immemorial appeal of the thriller. But what gives the story stature as a work of creative art is that Mr. Bartlett has been at pains to populate it with believable characters who are stirred by intensely personal concerns." Charles Poore, _N.Y. Times_

"The book charms with its expert knowledge of place and people." Paul Engle, _Chicago Tribune_

"Vivid, impressive, highly pictorial. What makes it a pleasure to read is its marvelous vignettes of Mexican ways of life." Lon Tinkle, _Dallas News_

"Only rarely is an American writer gifted with the perception and sensitivity required to translate into English the intensity and sense of tragedy of the Latin races." Joe Knoefler, _L.A. Times_

"Mr. Bartlett has given us a powerful, unusual and haunting novel, filled with characters as real as the headlines in today's papers, who move towards the inevitability of defeat like figures in a Greek tragedy." Gwen, _The Oxford Mail_

"A beautifully atmospheric tale..." _The Washington Post_

"A dramatic, well-written symbol of transition..." _San Jose Mercury_

"A book of substance and depth, beautifully and poetically written..." _Moberly Monitor_

"Achieves a totality of effect that reminds one of Poe..." _Wichita Falls Times_

"If you like to feel the exotic made factual, here it is..." _Saskatchewan Star_

"A lively and richly picturesque chronicle of a Mexico that was..." _Chicago Sun-Times_

"An intense struggle heightened by personal involvement, written with understanding..." _Los Angeles Examiner_

"Bartlett has pinpointed the struggle between the old order and the new, between father and son..." _Atlanta Journal_

"Articulate ... believable ... the book charms with its expert knowledge of place and people..." _Chicago Tribune_

"A skillfully written novel, interwoven with color and excitement..." _New Bedford Standard_

"A suspenseful story..." _The Diplomat_

"A story of change, love, violence and corruption that moves fast..." _Sacramento Bee_

"One of the high ranking novels of the year ... between realism and poetry ... brilliant, colorful and smooth." _Worcester Telegram_

"A penetrating novel, with wonderful scenes and rich understanding..." _Long Beach Press_

"A novel of exploitation and retribution..." _London Free Press_

"A novel of haunting significance..." _Bay St. Louis News_

"A capably written novel about a colorful land and an exciting era..." _Los Angeles Mirror_

"Filled with impressive details of landscape and Mexican life ... all presented with an artist's eye..." _Richmond News Leader_