"In the place where you are born and where you grow up you begin to learn the things that all men must know." "Although they are the simplest things, it takes a man's life really to know them." "And if you are to be a writer the stories that you make up will be true in proportion to the amount of this knowledge of life that you have." "So that when you make something up it is as it would truly be:" "with the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse the people and places, and how the weather was." "Hey, Dad, there's Charley, the chicken killer." "Hello, Joe." " Doc." " Eddy." "Hi, Nick." "Hey, Dad." "Dad, there's Charley." "Got him!" "I'm sorry to see old Charley go, but 50 chickens is enough." " Shall I get him?" " No, never look at your deads, Nick." "Especially if they're old friends like Charley there." "You still got those great eyes, huh, doc?" "How's your wife, Joe?" " Joe, how's your wife?" " Oh, you know these squaws." " Did you bring your gun, Eddy?" " Yeah." " Is that the new one?" " Yeah." "It's a beauty, huh?" "Go ahead, take a look at it." "Go on." "I like that." " Oh, I never shot one as good as this." " Here." "Give me the gun." "Is your Dad coming?" "As soon as he gets your pa started sawing on the logs." "Well, doc, that's a nice lot of timber you've stolen." "Don't talk that way, Joe." "It's driftwood." "Driftwood, huh?" "Wash it off." "What are you doing that for?" "Washing it off." "I want to see who it belongs to." "White and McNally." "You know White and McNally don't care about these stray logs." "Not worth the price of a crew to gather them." "If we didn't fish them in and cord them up and use them for firewood they'd simply be left to waterlog and rot." "You know that." "Now, look." "Look at the date there, 1915." "It's been there a year already." "Don't explain it to me, doc." "Explain it to White and McNally." "If you think these logs are stolen, leave them, take your tools and go." "Oh, don't get huffy, doc." "Don't get huffy." "I don't care who you steal from." "It's none of my business." " Can't we just do the work" " Give the gun back." "I think you better go, Joe." "Listen, doc, you know they're stolen as well as I do." "If you think these logs are stolen, take your stuff and get out." "Take your stuff and get out." "If you call me doc once again, I'll knock your eye teeth right down your throat." "Oh, no you won't doc." "Henry?" "Is that you, Henry?" "I'm in my bedroom." "You can open the blinds, dear." "I was having my meditation hour." " Aren't you going back to work, dear?" " Nope." "Is anything the matter?" "Oh, I had a row with Joe Boulton." " I hope you didn't lose your temper." " Nope." "Remember, he who ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." "It's a comforting thought." "Boulton's got a big mouth." "Well, he owed me a lot of money for pulling his squaw through pneumonia." "I guess he started a row so he wouldn't have to take it out and work." " You understand, don't you, Nick?" " Henry?" "Listen, Dad, I understand." "It's just that" "I wish you wouldn't let people take advantage of you all the time." "Henry Adams." "It's not like you not to answer." "Oh, I'm sorry, dear." " Nick." " Mother." "Are you keeping something from me about Boulton?" " No." " Well, what was the trouble about, dear?" "Nothing much." "Tell me." "Please don't try and keep things from me." "Well, Joe started the fight to keep from paying a bill." "Dear, I don't think- I really don't think it can be that." "No?" "He's done it before." "It's difficult to believe that anyone would do a thing of that sort intentionally." "Isn't his wife the one who's so overdue?" " Ten months." " Then he needs you." "Why would he fight with you?" "No, I really don't think it's that." "Dad, we'd better go, it's getting late." "I haven't heard the viola today, Nicky." "Or yesterday." "We are going hunting." "It's the first day for ducks." " I'm going to try out my new gun." " After you've practiced." " There'll be time enough." " Oh, it's really not important, is it?" "If he wants to amount to something, yes." "Well, when I was 19 I didn't want to practice, either." "You're different." "You don't have that kind of ambition." "Why else would you have stayed in Sidess?" "Helen, I don't want to get into an argument about my practice." "Then don't interfere between Nick and me." "Listen, son, I tell you what." "You practice for an hour and I'll run to the office." "There'll still be enough light." "I've got a date with Carolyn." "Well, maybe Saturday." "You really want me to practice?" "Of course, he does." "Why don't you let him answer." "I'm sorry." "Sure." "Saturday will be fine." "Nick, you can hardly see the rod from here." "We'll hear the reel sing if we get a strike." " What's the matter, Nick?" " Nothing." "Well, why don't you have a sandwich?" " I don't want it." " Oh, come on and eat, Nick." "There's going to be a moon tonight." " How do you know?" " I just know it." "Oh, Carolyn, you know everything." "Nick, don't be that way." "I can't help it." "You know everything." "That's the trouble." "You know you do." "I taught you everything." "What don't you know, anyway?" "Nick, you don't have to talk silly with me." "What's really the matter?" " I don't know." " Of course you do." " No, I don't." " Go on and say it." "It isn't fun anymore." "Not any of it." "The whole day long." "No fun." "Isn't love any fun?" " Hey, Eddy." " Nick." " What are you doing here?" " We've come for your father." "Dad, what's wrong?" "The Boulton woman's in labor." " I'll take you in our canoe." " Fine." "How can she breathe in here?" "Throw that cigar away and get that hound out of here." "Nick, put all the instruments in that boiling water." "Your wife's in serious trouble." "She don't need you, doc." "She always screams a lot when she has a baby." "She's not gonna have this one unless we act fast." "Nick, get her to drink as much of that as you can." "I'm sorry you have to be in on this, Nick." "You should see your first operation under better conditions." "I haven't any anesthetic." "The whiskey and this will be some help." "You're gonna have to act as my intern." "You see Nick, babies are supposed to be born headfirst but sometimes they're not, and that's trouble." "I'm going to have to perform a Caesarean section." "Bring me all the instruments." "You're not going to cut her." "Billy, stand down here." "Eddy, on the other side." "Now, when I tell you, I want you to hold her as tight as you can." "I mean tight." "She mustn't move." "I'll be performing surgery and she must not move." "Woman, turn the wick high up and hold the lamp over here." "Can you hold her hands, Boulton?" "I mean really hold them?" "Nick." "On the abdomen." "Is everybody ready?" "Boulton, get back here." "Go on, Dad." "Your father has another son, Eddy." "That ought to sober him up." "Please excuse my father for this morning, Dr. Adams." "He's been drinking since yesterday." "Nick, this is one for the medical journal." "Doing a Caesarean in a place like this." " Henry?" "Henry, is that you?" " Yes, dear." "I haven't slept all night." " Nick's not back yet." " Yes, I am." "Nicky, you're all right." "Henry, you ought to know how I worry." " How was I to know he was with you?" " I'm sorry, dear." "He was a big help." "We had to perform a Caesarean on the Boulton woman." "Yeah." "And Nick was there?" "I think it's one of those things a boy of 19 can know about, Helen." "I don't think a live demonstration is necessary at any age." "Helen, it's done." "He's just a boy, Henry." "How could you?" " I'll get you some breakfast, Nicky." " I'm not hungry." "Then you'd better get to bed." "You must be exhausted." "I'm not tired either." "George expects me." "I'll spend the night at his place." "No, not after last night." "Mr. De Luca will be here at four for your lesson." "I don't want to take my lesson." "What did you say?" "Well, I've decided about my lessons and I'm not going to take anymore." " After the lesson today we'll talk it over." " Mother, I know how you feel." "You put all the money into it and everything but I can't help it." "I don't wanna practice." "I don't wanna talk about it." " Don't be rude." " I'm not being rude." "You'll be here for your lesson and that's that." "I don't wanna play that damn box anymore." "I won't have Nick swearing in my house." "Let Nick and me talk it over, Helen." "You'd better read him the Fifth Commandment." "He seems to have forgotten it." "Look, son, humor her a little." "Take the lesson today, then we'll gradually get you out." "Keep the peace that way." "Dad." "Aren't you a little tired of keeping the peace?" " Now, Nick" " Listen, Dad." "You're always coming to me about Mother." "Just this once, why don't you go to her for me and explain to her that I'm not a boy anymore." "We'll work it out, Nick." " You let me handle your mother" " No, Dad, you won't work it out." "I'm sorry, but that's just how I feel." "Look at it this way, Nick." "It won't be very long before you and Carolyn have a home of your own." "So for the short time you're gonna be here, just try to get along." "I busted off with her." " When?" " Yesterday." "Oh, you'll be back together tomorrow." "You have to expect these spats." "It wasn't a spat." "I just ended it." "Oh, Nick." "Carolyn's mother will be furious." "She's invited half the town to your engagement party." "But I never intended to be engaged." "You were going to get married, weren't you?" " Yeah, but not engaged." " What's the difference?" " I don't know, but there's a difference." " Nick, you can't do it." "What will your mother say?" "You just can't be that irresponsible with other people's lives." "It's my life, too, isn't it?" "Dad, there I'll be in her old man's hardware store with her mother running around the house." "Going over their house for Sunday dinners, having them over." "Her telling Carolyn what to do and how to act and her father giving me advice on how to get ahead." "That's marriage, boy." "Don't worry you'll cope with it." "But you've started something, you've gotta go through with it." "Don't you understand." "I'm not ready for all that yet." "You should've thought of that sooner." "Go to Carolyn's and put things straight." "When?" "Before my music lesson, or after?" "Nick." " Nick." " George, she's sure blowing." "Yeah, and she'll blow like that for three days." " Your dad in?" " No." "He's out with the gun." "Come on in." "Listen, George, can we have a drink?" "I feel like a drink." "Sure." "Only I don't know what my old man will say, but that's okay." "Here." "Well, I busted up with Carolyn." "Well, how come?" "I don't wanna talk about it." "Let's get drunk." "Okay." " Pretty good stuff, huh?" " Yeah." " It's got a swell smoky taste to it." " That's the peat." "You can't get peat into liquor." " That doesn't make any difference." " You ever seen any peat?" " No." " All right, then." "Hey, did you ever read The Forest Lovers?" "Yeah." "It's the one where they go to bed with a naked sword between them." "Pretty good book, huh?" "What I couldn't understand was what good that sword would do." "It would have to stay edge up all the time because if it went flat they could roll over and it wouldn't cause any trouble." "It's a symbol." "Sure, but it's not practical." "When are you gonna write a book, Nick?" "I'll write a book." "I'll go to New York, get a job on a newspaper and when I know enough, I'll write a book." "Write about fishing." "Sure." "Just stay clear of all that mush." "You're not gonna write about mush, are you?" "George do I look like the type of a writer who would write about mush?" "Here." " That's a pretty large drink." " Not for us, George." " Well, what'll we drink to?" " Let's drink to 4:00." "Four o'clock?" "Yeah, to 4:00." "Here's to 4:00." "Okay, gentlemen." "I give you 4:00." "You know, you were very wise, Nick." " Yeah, what do you mean?" " About the Carolyn business." "Once a man's married, he's absolutely sunk." "You've seen these guys that get married." "You can tell them." "They got that sort of fat, married look." "With this war in Europe and all, this is no time to be getting married." " Did Carolyn make a scene?" " All right." "I hurt her." "Come on, let's take the guns, go down the point" "Here." "And find your Dad." "All right." "The birds will lie right down in the grass in this." "We can't hit a thing in this wind." "You know that could have killed you?" "Listen, George." "You know how we're always talking about getting away on our own?" "Well, I want to go." "I mean really go." "The way things are." "Everything feels like it's closing in on me." "I don't wanna get knocked crazy by a hunk of tree in Sidess, Michigan." "I want to get out of here, George." "There's all that out there and it's gotta be better than this." "I want" " I wanna go to New Y ork, and I want to start to work." "What do you say?" " You mean without packing?" " How much money you got?" "A few bucks." "I've got 20." "We'll make out." "Can't we wait until tomorrow morning, Nick?" " If you're welching, just say so." " I'm not welching." "But can we at least tell our fathers?" "You know how your father is about you." "If I said goodbye to him, I couldn't leave." "Well, what do you say?" "Come on." "Hey." "Hey, how about a ride." "Come on, George." "Well, I've had it." " I've really had it." " Come on, George." "A little rain?" "What nice soft puddle do I sleep in tonight?" "I've got a cold, tomorrow I'll have pneumonia." "Tomorrow we'll get a nice hotel room, hot bath." "I've got enough money to take me back to Sidess, and that's where I'm going." " Look, what can you tell in four days?" " I'll tell you what I can tell." "I can tell you that three times a day I get hungry." "That every 24 hours I get an irresistible urge to go to sleep in a bed." "I don't wanna beg and I don't wanna steal." "I don't want a cop telling me I'm a vagrant and running me out of town." "I'm sorry to desert you." "But I'm not cut out for this kind of a life." "Where you headed, kid?" "Hey, I asked you a question, kid." "New York." "Why'd you pick New York?" "Friends there?" "No." "It's a place I thought about." "I want to get a job on a newspaper." "Well, what do you know?" "I'm from New York myself." "Hey, listen, kid." "Look out for the brakeman on this run." "He's a mean son of a gun." "Likes to use his fists." "You know the kind?" "Not many guys ride the Burly anymore, because of this here brakeman." "Likes to bust a guy's jaw with his fist." "You look like a nice guy, thought I'd let you know." " Thank you." " Don't mention it." "Hey, you got a place to stay in New York?" "No, I don't." "I got just the place." "Friend of mine runs it." "Here, I'll give you the address." "You looking for somebody, kid?" "Say, something the matter?" "A brakeman busted me." "Oh, on the through freight?" "Yeah." "The louse." "How'd he do it?" "He said to me:" ""Come here, kid." "I got something for you. "" "Then wham, huh?" "Wham." "Oh, yeah, yeah." "Yeah, I know that." "It's a kid's trick." "Come here." "Come here, kid." "I got something for you" " Wham." "It must have made him feel good to bust you that way." "Get him" " Get him with a rock sometime when he's going through." " Maybe you're a tough kid, huh?" " No." "All you kids are tough." "Yeah, all you kids are tough." "What's the matter, kid?" "Don't you like my face?" "Sure." "Look at that." "Did you ever see one like that?" "No." "Oh, I could take it." "Don't you think I could take it, kid?" "You bet." "Well, they all bust their hands on me." "They couldn't hurt me." "Sit down." "No, sit down, sit down." "You want some coffee?" "I'd like a drink of water." "Hey, listen." "Call me Ad." "Sure." "Listen, kid." "I'm not quite right." "What's the matter?" "I'm crazy." "You're all right." "No." "I'm crazy." "You ever been crazy, kid?" "No." "How does it get you?" "I don't know." "You know, when you got it then you don't know about it." "Here." "You know me, don't you?" "I'm Ad Francis." " Ad Francis, the champion?" " Yeah, that's me." " Honest to God?" " Well, don't you believe me, kid?" "Sure, sure." " You know how I beat them?" " No." "My heart's slow." "I got a slow heart." "It only beats 40 a minute." "Well, feel it." "Go ahead, feel it." "Put your fingers there." "Right on the pulse and feel it." " Say, you got a watch?" " No." "Oh, neither have I. Neither have I." "Then it ain't no good if you ain't got a watch." "Oh, wait a minute." "Take ahold, take ahold again." "Take ahold again." "Put your finger there on the pulse and you count and then I count to 60." " You ready?" " Yeah." "Ready." "One, two, three, four five, six, seven, eight, nine" "Two." "Three." "Come on, speed up the count." "I got a slow count." "Come on." "Pick up the count." "I could put you away with 30." "I'll let you count 40." "Forty one, 42." " Fifty nine, 60." "What you got, kid?" " Forty." "Oh, 40, 40." "Still 40, never speeds up." "Listen." "Listen, kid, see, you know, when" "Hey Bugs." "Hey, hey, hey, Bugs." "Hey, Bugs, hey." "Hey, come on, come on, Bugs." "Hey." "One, two, huh?" "This is my" " This is my pal, Bugs." "He's crazy too." "Glad to meet you." " Where you say you're from?" " I'm from Michigan." "That's a fine state." " Your people live there?" " Yeah." "I didn't catch your name." "Adams." "Nick Adams." "Oh, Bugs, he says he ain't never been crazy." "He's got a lot coming to him." "Yeah." " You hungry, Nick, huh?" " Yeah, I sure am." "Oh, you hear that." "Bugs?" " I hear most of what goes on." " That ain't what I asked you." "Yes." "I heard what the gentleman said." "Help yourself." " That's pretty good, huh, Nick?" " Yeah." "Mr. Francis, it's past your bedtime." "You're in training, Mr. Francis." "You have any place to stay tonight?" "Mr. Francis, is it all right to put up Mr. Adams for the night?" "Yeah, yeah." "You take that place there, Mr. Adams." "I'll make me another somewhere else." "Thanks." "Listen, kid." "You get that" " You get that brakeman with a rock, okay?" "Okay." " What made him crazy?" " Oh, a lot of things." "Hey, Bugs." "Hey." "He took too many beatings, for one thing." "Let's do another mile, huh?" "Pretty tough being a champ, huh, kid?" "Come on." "What else beside the beatings?" "Well, the beatings just made him sort of simple." "But what made him crazy, you see, his sister, Barbara, was his manager." "They kept writing them up in the papers all about brother and sister and how she loved her brother and he loved his sister." "Then they got to New York." "They got married." "That caused a lot of unpleasantness." " I remember about it." " Sure." "But they weren't brother and sister no more than a rabbit." "There were a lot of people who didn't like it one way or the other and they started having disagreements." "And one day she just went off and didn't come back." "He just went crazy." "Hey." "Hey, Bugs." " Was that a mile?" " Sure." "We do 100 yards to a mile." "Hey, Bugs." "Hey, kid." "You try it." "That's pretty good." "What are you doing?" "Let go there." "Come on, get away." "Let go." "Go on." "Scram." "Beat it." "Why, that dumb mutt." "Come on." "One, two." "Hi, Nick." "Oh, that smells good." "Mr. Adams, will you slice some bread out of that bag?" "You want your egg over, Mr. Francis?" "Oh, no up, Bugs." "You must be mighty hungry." "Yeah." "Oh, let me take your knife, will you, Nick?" "No, you don't." "You hold onto that knife, Mr. Adams." "Well, Why?" "Hold onto it." "Mr. Adams, will you pass me a slice of bread?" "Thank you." "Mr. Adams, do you like your bread dipped right into the ham fat?" "Yeah." "Perhaps we'd better wait until later." "It's better at the finish of the meal." "Please put a top on this and will you pass it to Mr. Francis?" "Thank you." "Be careful how that egg runs." "Mr. Adams is right hungry." "How the hell do you get that way?" "Who you think you are, anyway?" "You come in here where nobody asks you and eat a man's food." "And when he asks you to take your knife you get snooty." "Who asked you to butt in here, anyway?" "Nobody." "Nobody, nobody, that's right." "Nobody." "Nobody asked you and nobody asked you to stay either." "You come in here and you act snooty about my face, smoke my cigars drink my liquor and then you get snooty." "Who do you think you are anyway?" "All right, come on, come on, stand up." "Go on, up." "Get up." "All right, hit me." " Go ahead." "Try and hit me." " I don't wanna hit you." "You ain't getting out of it." "You'll get your can knocked off." " Cut it out." " Come on and land one at me, huh." "What's the matter?" "You're yellow." "You got no guts." "Come on, swing at me." "Mr. Adams, get some water in that bucket over there." "I'm afraid I hit him a bit too hard." "Oh, he's all right." "Nothing to worry about." "I've seen him like this plenty of times." "Mr. Adams, I'm very sorry." "That's all right." "I hate to have to thump him." "But it's the only thing you can do when he gets started like that." "Mr. Adams, I wish you'd sort of pull out." "I don't like to not be hospitable but I'm afraid that it will disturb him over again if he sees you." "I'd sure like to stay with you guys." "I would have warned you about him before this but he seemed to have taken such a liking to you." "I thought everything was going to be all right." "But I sort of feel like..." "I feel like I belong with you guys, you know." "I wish you could stay on, but it's out of the question." "Would you like to take some of that ham and bread with you?" " Hey, Bug..." " You better go." "Bugs?" "Bugs?" "Take a sandwich with you." "No, thanks." "Mr. Adams." "Mr. Adams, I'd like to say goodbye." "I hate to see you go." "I liked your company." "One thing more." "You find yourself a buddy." "Your own kind of buddy." "A man alone has no damn chance." "You hear?" "No, you keep it." "Sort of a going-away present from me." "Why don't you head on back home?" "The road is no place for a boy like you." "Yeah." " Beginning to think you're right." " Sure." "A nice boy like you, you head on home." "Hey, Bugs." "I got a terrible headache, Bugs." "You're going to feel all right, Mr. Francis." "Who's that, Bugs?" "Oh, just a boy." "Hello?" "What can I do for you?" "I'd like to send a telegram." "All right." "Who does it go to?" "Dr. Henry Adams." "Sidess, Michigan." " He the only Dr. Adams?" " Yes." "Then you don't need the "Henry. "" "Oh, okay." "Go ahead." "Returning home." "Please wire train fare." "Rockville, Ohio." "Love, Nick." "What's so funny?" "Oh, just reminds me of when I was a boy, that's all." "You lit out from home, didn't you?" "Sort of." "Yeah." "So did I." "I got as far as Casper, Wyoming." "I was going the other way." "And when the first snow fell and I mean fell." "It snowed for five days while I waited for my pop to come and get me." "You couldn't telegraph money in those days." "Oh, I was glad to see him." "That was 40 years ago." "Well, telegraphing was just coming in, so I hired on here and worked my way up until I became chief of the night office." "But I sometimes wonder how it would have been if that snow had never fallen." "Well, I'll get this right out." "Listen, sir." "I think I don't want to send it." "How's that?" "I don't want to send it." "You'd better take it with you." "It's all ready if you ever change your mind." "Thanks." "I am not plastered." "I am pasted." "Lad, you don't smell very sweet." "I've been on the road." "Thank you, lad." "Come along, lad, only six more to go before the boozing hour." "My noble steed." "Campbell's Tower." "You know something?" "My father wanted me to be an architect- "ark-she tect. "" " Listen, does Pisa lean right or left?" " I don't know." "Don't matter." "I'll build one leans both ways." "The ninth wonder of the world." "Or is it the tenth?" " How many wonders are there?" " Search me." "Check that." "One more, bottle-keeper." "Better make it two." " We keeping you up?" " Yes, sir." "The wages of gin." "Listen, lad." "I have an opening on my staff." "Are you at liberty?" " I sure am." " Fine." "Let me tell you about the job." "As advance man for this high-class theatrical attraction which I advertise, it is my duty to be out of town before Sliding Billy Turner and his virgins arrive in the morning." "That will be your job." "I am an immovable object." "You get me out of here on time." " Think you can do it?" " Yeah, I can try." "Where are we headed?" " Manhattan Island." " New York?" " You ever been there?" " No, sir." "But I'd sure like to go." "It's a veritable paradise of bars." "Booze on Sundays." "And a lot of good newspapers, huh?" "Gospel, Baghdad on the Hudson." " Send one up for my new assistant" " Come on, gotta get to bed." "Come on." "You are right, Nick." "Boy, you are right." "One more and I'll quit." "Just a second, Mr. Campbell, if you keep on saying one more how am I gonna get you to bed?" "Lad, I can't go to bed thirsty." "But you already had 12 drinks." "How can you be thirsty?" "It's an emotional thirst, not a physical one." "You wouldn't understand." "Well, I understand one thing, you've given me an impossible job." "All right." "I quit." "I'm leaving." "Now wait a minute, Nick." "Never succumb to anger." "Your day's pay, lad." "Thanks." "Farewell, Pisa." "Mr. Campbell, what time does Mr. Turner arrive?" "Mr. Campbell?" "Mister, Mr. Camp-?" "Mr. Campbell." "Mr. Campbell." "They're here." "They're here." "Come on." "You've got to get up, Mr. Campbell." "Go to hell." "Mr. Campbell." "Come on." "Get up." "Come on." "Mr. Campbell." "Mr. Turner, you can't fire me." "There's an ordinance in town, a man under the sheets can't be fired." " You're drunk." " It's my fault." " Ever try talking through a sheet?" " You're talking through a sheet, all right." "You can go now, I don't work for you anymore." "You know that much anyway." " I can get him" " I just love it under sheets." "Just give him one last chance." "While you're here, stop off at the Keeley and take the cure." " I'll fix it up." " No." "I don't want to take a cure." "I don't want to take a cure at all." "I'm perfectly happy." "All my life I've been perfectly happy." " I promise" " Oh, shut up." "Haven't I done my work?" "My assistant Nicholas and I papered this town royally." "One question." "How long have you been stewed?" "I don't know." "But I've got my wolf back." "Oh, no." " He doesn't have a wolf." " Please shut up." "Oh, yes." "My dear wolf." "Every time I take a drink he goes out of the room." "He can't stand alcohol, the poor little fellow." "Now look, you really ought to stop off and take the cure." " You won't" " I just love sheets." " You think I'm drunk." " You are drunk." " No, I'm not." "No." " You're drunk, you've had the DT's." " He did all his work" " If I want any advice, I'll ask for it." "Dear sheet, pretty sheet." "You love me, don't you, sheet?" "It's all in the price of the room." "Just like in Japan." "Now, listen, Billy." "Dear Sliding Billy." "I've got a surprise for you and for my assistant there." "I am not drunk." "I am hopped to the eyes." "Fooled you both." " No." " Take a look." "Go ahead, take a look." "Observe the little blue circles around the tiny blue punctures." "That's the latest development." "I only drink once in a while, to drive the wolf out of the room." "They got a cure for that too." "No." "They haven't got a cure for anything." " You can't just quit like that" " Be careful of my sheet." "We've been together a long time, Billy." "You can't just quit at your age." "And start pumping yourself full of that stuff just because you got in a jam." "Now, listen, Billy, I want to tell you something." "You're called "Sliding Billy" because you can slide." "I'm called just Billy because I never could slide at all." "I can't slide, Billy." "I can't slide." "It catches." "Every time I try, it catches." "I can't slide, Billy." "It's awful when you can't slide." "Did he show you the ropes?" "You can handle his job?" "I can't take his job away from him, Mr. Turner." "Don't worry about that." "I'm very fond of Billy." "I'll put him in the Keeley." "But you got to take over until we get to New York." "Would you give his job back to him?" "When he gets cured?" "He's been with me for 16 years." "Why does he call you Sliding Billy?" "Sliding?" "I don't know." "Everybody gets hit, this way or that." "Some people stand there, get knocked down, bleed, get up get knocked down again." "Others learn how to roll with the punch, they slide." "That's what you gotta learn, kid." "How to slide." "You heard what Billy said." "It's awful when you can't." " What's your name?" " Nick, Nick Adams." "Well, you see to it that they call you "Sliding Nick. "" "Now you remember that." "Yes, sir." "I gotta go arrange for the Keeley." "I'll see you at the theatre around noon." " You all right, Mr. Campbell?" " Sure." "Can I get you something?" "No, lad." "I'm the man who has everything." "Hey, Nick, come on in." "I got this classy troupe going out for 10 weeks." "Want you to work the tour." "Thanks, Mr. Turner, but I think I'm gonna stay on here." " What?" "In New York?" " Yeah." "All right, girls, give me a couple of wind-up bumps." "Okay, okay, you're hired." "Look, what are you gonna do?" "Well, I'm going to try to get a job on a newspaper." "I wanna be a reporter." "Have you got any pull?" "Any connections?" "No, I don't know anybody in New Y ork." "You're just gonna walk in cold?" "Sure." "Just like they did." "Okay, if that's the way you want it." "The tour doesn't start for 10 days." "If things don't work out for you, come back and see me." "Now, here's your pay." " Good luck." " Thanks." "By the way, what do you hear from Billy Campbell?" "Well, he disappeared from the Keeley." "But he'll turn up." "You can count on that." "Wreathed in a halo of bourbon." "Did you ever hear voices like that?" "No, sir." "Goodbye." "So bad I like it." "Yes, that's right." "The whole story." "Go ahead, son, I'm listening." "I realize that you may not have an opening right now, sir." "Then hold it for the two-star edition." "There's no sense rushing it." "Yes." "Go on, go on, son." "I wrote a couple of feature articles." "I thought that they might give you an idea." "Well, do a follow-up with a new lead." "Long hand, huh?" "Could you compress a hurricane into a 20-word lead?" " I don't know, sir." " Did you ever see a hurricane?" "No, sir." "What if I sent you down to T ammany Hall to check on a vote-buying story." " You think you could handle that?" " Well, I could ask around, I guess." "Can you type?" "No, sir." "What do you know about bankruptcy?" "Abortion mills?" "Why hasn't America entered the war?" "The sanitation department." "Henry Ford's peace ship." "Fatty Arbuckle's love life." "The Bowery." "Well, I could learn." "I could dig in and find out about things." "And I'm to pay you while you're finding out?" "Son, a newspaper like the Chronicle can't afford to make mistakes." "Yet anyone in the process of learning is bound to make mistakes." "No, experience is the only insurance policy we can take out on a reporter." "How can I get experience if all the newspapers keep turning me down?" "I've got to start someplace." "I've been in every newspaper office in New Y ork every day for the last three weeks." "Where you from?" "A town in Michigan." "You've never heard of it, Sidess." "Sidess, huh?" "Start there." "Or the Kankakee Dispatch." "Or the Chickopee News." "Make your mistakes there, son." "Then move up to the big time when you' re ready." "No." "That's not for me, sir." "Well, all right, you get your experience your own way." "I like your determination." "When you get the experience, you come back here." "I'd take that job." "Just anything to get into the building." "That boy waited over a year for that job." "I'll be back, Mr. Rice." "You, Nick." "Forget the oysters." "Clear off table two." "Morris, any pearls you find on my side belong to me." "This dinner starts the beginning of our Thursday night rallies to raise money food supply and especially men." "T o help our Italian brothers beat back the Austrians and the Germans that have invaded our homeland." "I said clear table two." "We need these volunteers in the Field Service as ambulance drivers, orderlies and mechanics." "They will wear the very attractive uniform of the Field Forces and they will hold the rank of honorary lieutenant in the Italian army." "Now who will be our first volunteer?" "Our first hero?" "There he is, our first volunteer." "Congratulations." "You are just the type of young man our" "I catch you loafing once more and you're fired." "Some rally out there, Morris." " Most beautiful woman I've ever seen." " She's a countess." "It'd be something to be in a war." "But remember, she don't go with the troops." " Even without her." " I don't know." "I was in the Franco-Prussian War." "My father was in the Spanish-American War." "I wanted to get out of the kitchen work so I joined up." "Took all that training and my entire duty they put me to the kitchen." "Nick, clear table three." "We would like to have some more volunteers." "Contessa, this gentleman would like to serve our cause." "He's a medical student." "Bravo." "Contessa, here's a volunteer mechanic." "Contessa, two brothers." "Both joining." "Bravo." "Wonderful." "Now, keep it up." "Come on." "Remember, you get the rank of honorary lieutenant." "And how often does a young man have a chance to be a hero?" "T o all of you." "T o all of you brave men." "Dad." "Dad." "Nick." " I got too comfortable, I guess." " Why didn't you write you were coming?" "I got your note and you sounded, well, lonely." " I just acted on the spur of the moment." " Well, I've missed you." " How's the hunting?" " Haven't been out yet." "But it ought to be good after the first snow." "I remember last year, I thought those honkers would never stop coming, huh?" "They predict another good season." "I was wondering what your plans were?" "I don't mean to interfere." "It's just that I've been thinking about it." "I think I can make things better for you." " Dad, you've made them fine." " I mean nobody has it perfect but I think I can work it out, you know?" "Look." "I've got us tickets on the Chicago Limited." "Spend a weekend at the Palmer House, take in the Exposition and leave for Sidess Monday." " How does that sound?" " Well, it sounds nice." "George told me to tell you he's found a great pheasant place and Carolyn" "Here it is." "Sent you this." " I'd like to see it." " Fine." "But I can't." "Not just now." " Why not?" "What's keeping you here?" " Well, I'll show you." " What do you think?" " I don't recognize it." "American Field Service." "Ambulance." "I'm a lieutenant." "A whole group of us are sailing for Italy." "I wish Grandpa were still alive so he could see me in it." " Well, how do I look?" " Like a damn fool." "What do you think war is, Nick?" "Brass buttons?" "Yes." "I used to hear you and Grandpa talking about it." "Do you think I'd talk about real war to your poor old Grandpa?" "Do you know what war is, Nick?" "In a surgeon's tent, that's where you find out about war." "Will I ever walk again, doctor?" "Will I ever see again?" "Their blood in puddles on the mud floor." "Oh, you know about war, do you, Nick?" "I'm only going to drive an ambulance." "Oh, Nick, Nick, Nick." "You die quicker behind a wheel than you do in a trench." "Good God, what you don't know, boy." "Look, tell them you've changed your mind." "For my sake, if not for your own." "I'd hate like hell to donate you to a war that doesn't even concern us." "It's bad enough to die for your country." "Look at my hands, Dad." "I've been opening clams 10 hours a day." "I'm a lone nothing." "I'm with guys who call me lieutenant and not a bum." "Why throw away your life when it's needed so much?" " By whom?" " By me." "Dad." "There's so much I've got to learn." "I've gotta start learning it." "No matter what the risk, I've gotta take it." "Nick, the risk of war is death." "Why can't you understand that?" "I know, but- Well, I've got a feeling I can survive it." "Even if I went back home with you, I couldn't stay." "I know how I'd feel and I- It just wouldn't work." "Please try to understand." "I think I do." "You go ahead, Nick." "I wish we were both going so neither one of us would ever have to go back there." "Well, Nick, what's a young man's reality is just an older man's dream." "Old men dream dreams." "Young men see visions." "I read your mother's Bible once in a while myself." "Don't let her get to you so much." "Isn't there something you can do to turn it off?" "It's late." "You're gonna see me off tomorrow night, aren't you?" "Sure." "We'll spend the day together." "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Nick." "This way." "Do you promise to perform to the best of your ability whatever duties are prescribed by the Italian army?" "I do." "Adams, Nicholas." " Do you speak Italian?" " No, sir." "Fine." "Wonderful." "In the past 30 days we have received 60 Americans to hold the rank of lieutenant in our field services." "Of those 60, 57, 58 cannot speak one word of Italian." "Fifty-three cannot tie a tourniquet." "Can you tie a tourniquet?" "No, sir." "Fifty-four." " You didn't learn on the boat over?" " No, sir." "Then you were on Contessa Bellini's group?" "Yes, sir." "Well, you learned other things." "No medical." "Perhaps you've had some military experience." "Can you handle weapons, Signor Adams?" "I've done a lot of hunting." "Make a note, Lieutenant Adams can fire a shotgun." " Machine gun?" " No, sir." " Pistol?" " No, sir." " Mortar?" " No, sir." " Howitzer?" " No, sir." "Signor Adams, are you deserting a wife?" "No, sir." "Are you wanted for murder?" "No, sir." "You came here of your own free will?" "Yes, sir." "It is a concept beyond my imagination." "Adams, the corporal here speaks English." "He is your orderly assigned to your person." "For the 60 American volunteers, I've had to take out fifty-eight experienced Italian soldiers out of the trenches to be interpreters and orderlies." "Can you explain the logic of that?" " No, sir." " Do you like spaghetti?" " Yes, sir." " Bravo." "Of the 60 American lieutenants, all 60 like spaghetti." "Do you promise to perform to the best of your ability whatever duties are prescribed for you by the Italian army?" "I do." "And now, tenente you may as well learn an Italian word:" "tenente, lieutenant." "Tenente." "Just remember our ambulances are very precious to us." " Try not to lose any." " Y es, sir." "With those two on the field, I'd rather be dead than wounded." "Nervous about going out?" "Yeah, I guess I am." "Well, don't be." "They taught you everything you need to know." "I remember the first time I went out." "I was so nervous I couldn't even swallow." "Why is it when you get nervous you can't swallow?" " John, how come you're in this army?" " How come?" "How come." "I came back here in 1914 to visit my parents, they nab me for the army." "T en years, I live in Chicago, and still they nab me." "I got a wife and kids in Chicago." "If I didn't have kids I wouldn't be your orderly now." "They'd keep me in the line all the time." "I'm glad you've got them, John." "So am I." "They're fine kids." "But I want a boy." "Three girls and no boy." "That's a hell of a note." "There you are." "Take your first look at a field hospital." "One, two, three, four." "Ready?" "He wants us to take four back to the rear hospital." "Come on, you'll get used to it." "It's like riding the subway." "At first it's terrible, but you'll see, you'll get used to it." " The major's very good, isn't he?" " He should be." "He's champion of Italy." "Well, one of our Americans." "Do you still like spaghetti?" "Fine." "But try to use a little grammar." "lo parlo, not io parla." " It sounds better." " Pretty good for three weeks don't you think, signor maggiore?" "I saw the report on your evacuation work during the Bergamo attack." "I enjoyed watching you duel." "I try to get a little practice at night." "Now that's the end of it for awhile." "We move to the front tomorrow." "War is very hard on a peaceful swordsman." "Can you sleep, signor tenente?" "No." "I can't sleep either." " What's the matter?" " Oh, I don't know." "I just can't sleep." " You're gonna wake them." " No." "They can't hear us." "Anyway, they sleep like rocks." "Me, I'm different." "I'm nervous." "You want a smoke, tenente?" "Yeah." "Tenente is there something really the matter that you can't sleep?" "I never see you sleep." "All these weeks now, I never see you sleep." "I don't know, John." "What happens during the day seems to bother me at night." "At first, it wasn't so bad, but the last month or so..." "Same with me." "I should never have got in this war." "I'm too nervous." "Maybe it will get better." "What did you get in this war for anyway, tenente?" " I wanted to." " You wanted." "You wanted to." "That's a hell of a reason." "You think you're accomplishing anything?" " No." " You like to fight?" "No." "You're gonna wake them." "They sleep like rocks." "Imagine a young fellow like you not to sleep." "A man can't get along that don't sleep." "Are you worried about something, tenente?" "You got something on your mind?" "No, I don't think so." "You ought to get married..." " ... then you wouldn't worry." " Married." "Why don't you pick out some nice Italian girl with plenty of money?" "You could have anyone you want." "You're young." " You look nice in your uniform" " I can't talk the language." "Oh, to hell with talking the language." "You don't have to talk to them." "Marry them." "Here, the way they're brought up, they'll all make a good wife." "You just marry the one with the most money." " All right." "Well, I'll think about it." " No, don't think about it." " Do it." " All right." "You ought to be married, tenente." "You'll never regret it." "Every man ought to be married." "All right." "Now, we'll try to get a little sleep, huh?" "All right." "I'll try." "But you remember what I said." "I'll remember." "All right." "Now you go sleep, huh?" "All right." "I hope you sleep, tenente." "Tenente, the maggiore." "The maggiore is trapped in the command post." " How?" " The guns on the ridge." "The Austrians have a battery." "We tried to get to the maggiore, but we were cut down in the open field." "With your ambulance we might have a chance." "With those guns they'll blow us to hell." "But the maggiore is out there." " They'd blow us up, I tell you." " What about you?" " We' re ambulance men, that's combat." " Come on." "No." "No, tenente." "No, wait, tenente." "Wait!" "You'll get yourself killed, tenente!" "Can you walk?" "John." "Wait, tenente, wait." "Thank you, americano." "Thank you." "Why don't we just stop fighting?" "Let the Austrians march all over Italy." "After a while they'll get tired and go away." "They have their own country." "No, instead we fight this ridiculous war." "You're a big orator." "But you only talk like that because you're a Chicago Italian." "It would be much worse if we stopped fighting." "It couldn't be worse." "There is nothing worse than war." "Defeat is worse." "I don't believe it." "What is defeat?" "You go home." "You can talk." "Your home is in Chicago." "But here they come after you." "They take your home." "They take your sisters." "Let everybody keep their sister in the house." "They hang you." "They can't hang everybody." "Can you see everybody in Italy hanging from a tree?" "You know what I think, I think you don't know nothing about being conquered." "Or else you wouldn't think it was not so bad." "Why don't we shut up and eat." "I'm gonna go get the salami." "What do you think, tenente?" "You haven't said nothing." "I don't know about war." "Who can say?" "My father was in a war." "He hated it." "They're shooting big men in warfares." "Sergeant." "Sergeant." "Sergeant." "Sergeant!" "Help me." "Please." "Please, Jesus, please, please help me." "Oh, please, help me, Jesus." " Please help me." " I've got you, tenente." " Please help me." " I've got you, tenente." "My legs." "My legs." "Tenente, easy now." "You've had an operation." " My legs." " You're all right." "Your legs will be all right if you don't infect." "I kept my legs." "Your legs are all right." "Your legs are all right, tenente." "I can't move my legs." "Will I be able to walk?" "You can't expect all the answers when you're just out of surgery, tenente." "The operation went very well." "Now if you just have the right attitude the doctors think" "I want to be alone." " I'm here to help you, tenente." " I don't want any help!" "Well, now, some wake thirsty, some wake sick." "And some wake hungry." "Which are you?" "Well, that's a nice, cheerful view." "I'll make sure he spells your name right when the time comes." "Look at you, tenente, out here with the beauty of Verona spread out before you and all you have eyes for is the hospital cemetery." "Wouldn't you like to read?" "No, thanks." "Is there something else?" "I don't wanna read I don't wanna talk and I don't wanna learn to weave baskets." "Listen, tenente, every day I see men who are badly hurt by the war." "But the wounds in their bodies seem to heal faster than their other wounds." "The doctors call it " post-operative depression. "" "I know everything seems black to you, but give yourself a chance." "If you don't mind I'd like to skip the lecture." "I'm trying to help you, tenente." "I'm on your side." "There must be something I can do to help." "You can get me a new pair of legs." "Antoletti, Roberto." "Temperature 99.9." "Blood pressure 110 over 60." "Blood positive." "Appartini, Carlo." "T emperature 97.5." "Blood pressure 90 over 50." "Blood in the urine." "Well, look who's lit up for the first time." "It must be something serious if he rings." "Arcoli, Amadiele..." " Yes, tenente?" " Would you open the window, please?" " It's cool in here." " Please." " You're perspiring." " It's because it's so closed in here." "A dream?" "They're called night sweats." "Sometimes at night in the enlisted men's wards I walk among the beds, and the sound of the room is like a battle." "Would you like me to change your tunic?" "No, thanks." "You're all right?" "Would you like to talk, tenente?" "I don't think so." "If you talked about it, it might help you." " It wouldn't help." " Neither is keeping it in." "You wouldn't understand." "I understand quite a lot." "My brother died in this hospital." "Tenente, I've found with the men here, when they're troubled with nightmares it helps to talk about them." "Wouldn't you like to talk about it?" "I have trouble at night." "The nightmares." "Since I was wounded I have this nightmare that I die again." "What do you mean "again"?" "Like when I was hit." "In the nightmare I feel my soul come out of my body and fly around." "Then it comes back in, and I'm not dead anymore like when I was hit." "So at night, I've got to try to keep myself awake because if I fall asleep my soul will leave me again." "Is it only at night that it bothers you?" "Some nights like tonight it gets very bad." "Would you stay?" "Would you stay here for a while?" "I'll stay here." "Look, you know how long I've been coming here?" "Three whole weeks." "And still no visitors?" "Well, what's going on up there?" "The patient has requested no visitors." "Annabella, 31 please." " Did you give him my note yesterday?" " Y es." "Well, what was the report on him?" "He's listed as satisfactory." "Then why no visitors?" "What's going on up there?" "I'm sorry, corporal." "How is the hand?" "Oh, it is receiving machine therapy." " How is Adams?" " I don't know." "They don't allow visitors." "Nonsense." "Yes, that's right, nonsense." " Nurse, the maggiore" " Come along, John." "It is forbidden." "What is this, no visitors?" "We've ordered pretty girls for you." "I'm glad to see you sitting up." "The way the nurse talked, I thought you were dying." " Hello." " Every day I've been trying to see you." "You place them like on my grave." "Please, tenente." "Not even as a joke." "You don't know how badly I feel." "The town is full of girls... eager." "And the restaurants, how one eats." "And there I am every day having a marvelous time and you laid up here." "It makes me feel terrible." "I brought you this." "And good news." "You, my friend will be decorated." "They want to give you the medaglia d'argento, the silver medal." "Perhaps they can only get you the bronze." " For what?" " Because you are gravely wounded." "That's too much, too much." "Not for an empty stomach." "Brandy is a wonderful thing." "It burns out the stomach completely." "Nothing is worse for you." "Self-destruction, day by day." "It ruins the stomach and makes the hand shake." "Just the thing for a commanding officer." "No, help yourself, caporale." "Bottoms up, my friend, and look forward to being sick." "T o your valorous wounds." "T o the silver medal." "They say if you can prove you did any heroic act, you can get the silver." "Tell me exactly what happened." "I was blown up while eating cheese." "I hear you carried several people on your back." "I didn't carry anyone." "John's the one." "John gets the medal." "John and I will cook something up." "You'll get the silver." "You'll see." " How's your hand?" " Oh, it's very interesting." "Would you like to see it?" "It looks like the paw of a bear." "Hey, you know something?" "I'm getting drunk." "Marvelous." "So am I." "But why should I get drunk?" "You can get drunk for your wife and kiddies, right?" "Right, and I can get drunk for my bear's paw." "I should be a success begging for peanuts." "Your paw and my cork leg." "I feel awful without a wound." "You have the wife and three kiddies." "That counts as a wound." "You know, there's something..." "a secret you can't tell anyone." "You can count on me." "You know the cheese I was eating when I got blown up?" "Swiss." "You sure it wasn't parmigiano or Bel Paese?" "Absolutely not." "It was Swiss." "Right, John?" "I don't know." "I was out with the salami." "I'll put it as mozzarella." "A little perjury is a commanding officer's prerogative." "We'll get the silver for you." "You'll see." "And if you gentlemen keep this up, I'm going to be blind drunk." "Come along, caporale." "You will sleep well, you'll see." "Ciao, John." "Bang." "You swing level for the pigeons, watch the hawks for the quick rise." "Chuckers are so fast, you've got to hit them on the whirring of their wings." "This is my special place." "The archives of the Scaligeri family." "You walk in here and it's 1300, and Verona was in all its glory." "Meet Uncle Luigi." "Uncle Luigi?" "Well, his real name is Cansignorio." "When I was a little girl I used to come here and pretend that I was a princess and he was my Uncle Luigi who slew dragons." "He was Cousin Caruso who could turn witches into swans and that was Joyous Julius who could take me anywhere I wanted to go." "They were my knights in white armor." "And who is he?" "He's the Gloomy Giovanni, in charge of the dreams that never come true." "I used to dream a lot when I was a little girl." "My second name was Juliet and sometimes I would dream that I lived in the Capulet Castle up in the Verona hills." "A lot of Veronese girls have that dream." "Some nights in the summer, I would sit on the balcony of my room and brush my hair and hear Romeo." "This is their town, you know." "Did you have dreams like that?" "You know about my dreams." "Now, don't worry about your dreams." "My three knights will chase them away." ""A grave?" "O, no, a lantern." "For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light. "" " Is she really buried down there?" " If the steps weren't steep, I'd show you." "I didn't know that Romeo and Juliet were real people." "I'll show you her house, with its famous balcony and Romeo's house on the Ponte Nuovo." "And this is their wishing well." " Do you believe in wishing wells?" " I make a wish once a year." "Do you have a coin?" "Now, you make the wish and then you throw the coin in." "Well, I'm not much on making wishes." "Go ahead and try." "It can't hurt you." "No, my horoscope told me not to make any wishes." "Here." "I made one for you." "You know who these fellows are?" "The Chicago Cub infield." "Tinkers to Evers to Chance." "You don't understand?" " It's all right." " That's the first time I've seen you laugh." "Well, thanks to you I'm gonna be a happy cripple." "I'm sorry." "Will you forget I said it?" "Will you have dinner with me tonight?" "They won't let you out of the hospital, you know that." "You come by my room about 7?" "There." "Oh, no." "Our own private dining room, featuring pollo al tetto." "That's "chicken on the roof" to you." "It's amazing what a few bribes in the kitchen can do." "That's the carousel in the park." "It runs without the lights and the children ride the horses in the dark." "It's a nice sound." "It makes the war seem far away." "Yes." "I've never seen you with your hair down." "Do you like my town, now that you've seen it?" "You're quite beautiful, Rosanna." "It's a curious thing to live in a town full of beauty and not see it." "What I mean is, when I started to show it to you I suddenly realized it had been years since I had really looked at anything." "You can walk by beautiful things every day and not see them at all." "" In the eyes of the beholder. "" "It's so true, isn't it?" "Yes." "Oh, Nick." "Nick." "I love you, Rosanna." " I never thought I could tell you." " Why, Nick?" "Not if I couldn't walk." "But now I can tell you." "I love you." "I love you, Rosanna." "Oh, Nick." "Oh, Nick, how lucky we are." "Father Ben, Tenente Adams." "Father." "Good afternoon, St. Francis." "This is my Nick." "Please watch over him as you have over me." "Rosanna, I want to marry you." "We are married, darling." "No, I mean, really married." "I'll be going back to my outfit and I want you to be my wife forever." "Oh, Nick, I would love to marry you and be your wife." "Forever?" " Forever." " Right now, this minute." "Not quite." "There are papers you have to get." "And there is the formality of seeing my father." "You don't mind?" "You see I'm rather an old-fashioned girl." "No." "No, I don't mind." "Tenente Adams, how are you?" "Count Griffi." "It is hard for me to realize that Rosanna is at the age of marriage." "There is a tradition in our family." "To pass on this ring." "It was worn by my wife and by my mother and by many great-great grandmothers." "It stands for something very precious." "Please take care of it." "As sometimes we find out, when a father gives up his daughter the man who takes her must love her even more than her father." "Good luck." "Rosanna, where is she?" "Is she all right?" " The ambulance took her away." " Where is she?" "You'll have to look." "All the wounded have been taken to San Fermo." "San Fermo." "Is Rosanna here?" " Yes." " Where is she?" "She is badly hurt." "Father, where is she?" "She is over by the last altar." "Rosanna." "Rosanna." " Rosanna." " Oh, Nick." "Oh, Nick, I'm so glad you're here." "I was so afraid, and now I'm not." "Look, I just came back from seeing your father." "Look what he gave me." "Hold me, Nick." "I'm frightened." "No, no." "You're going to be all right." " You're going to be all right." " Oh, I love you, Nick." "We won't be alone anymore, neither of us." "Now it's my turn." " I get to take care of you." " Oh, yes." "I'll take care of you and I'll take you away." "We can live our lives where nobody can hurt us." "Oh, yes." "Yes." "I'm going to marry you, Rosanna." " Now?" " Yes, right now." " Bless, O Lord, this ring." " I'd like that." "Which we bless in Thy name, that she who shall wear it keeping true faith unto her spouse may abide in Thy peace and goodwill and ever live in mutual charity." "Wilt thou take this woman, Rosanna Juliet Griffi for thy lawful wife, according to the rite of our Holy Mother, the Church?" "I will." "Wilt thou take this man, Nick Adams for thy lawful husband according to the rite of our Holy Mother, the Church?" "Rosanna." "Rosanna?" "Rosanna." "Amen." "They sent for my buddies to help ease me out?" " I am very glad to see you, Nicolò." " How are you now, tenente?" " Do I seem unstable to you too?" " You seem fine." "It's a hell of a thing once you've been in here." "No one seems to have any confidence in you again." "Don't talk like that, tenente." "I'm sorry." "I do want to say a goodbye to you two." "There are few people I care about." "I'm very glad you care about us, Nicolò, and I understand." "You see, we Romans have an old saying we each have three witnesses to our lives and as each one dies we live more precariously." "Well, you're my last two witnesses so don't you die." "Don't let them kill you." "They will, you know." "They don't let you know what it's about." "They don't even give you time to learn." "They teach you the rules, throw you in." "And the first time they catch you off base, they kill you." "They kill you ugly like a sergeant in the shell-hole." "Or gracefully like Rosanna." "But they kill you in the end." "You can count on it." "I'm glad you're going home, Nicolò." "You're a fine soldier and a fine man." "And in a war where so much is lost it's a triumph to save a little of what is good." "Well, I'm all right." "You don't have to worry about me." "Oh, this finally came through." "You see, you got the silver." "It's a funny thing about war, John saves your life and you save my life, and I with the highest rank, I save no one." "Listen, tenente, do you think you'll get to Chicago?" "Sure, on my way through." "Would you see my wife and the little girls?" "Here is the address." "I've been trying to think of some message for my wife." "Don't worry." "I know what to tell them." "Would you buy some little presents for the girls?" "Anything and tell them I love them?" "Sure." "And I'll get them the presents." "Well, I guess you'll be glad to be getting home." "Yes, I sure will." "Just in time for the hunting season." "Do you hunt?" "Yes, I'm looking forward to it." "How are the ducks?" "The best year we've had in ten." "Dad will be in his glory." "He's a crack shot." "It'll be fun to be out with him again." "Well, look at all that going's on." "Say, that isn't for you, is it?" "I'm afraid it is." "Is that so?" "Well, you know, you're the first war hero's been on this train." "Sidess?" "Sidess." "Welcome home." "You've lost weight, Nicky." "Come on up on the platform Nick." "They're having a ceremony in your honor." "Strike up the band." "Where is Dad?" "Don't tell me you didn't get my letter." "No." "What letter?" "What's the matter?" "Oh, Nick, I can't tell you like this." "I wrote you." "Mother what's the matter?" "For God's sakes tell me." "He's dead, Nick." "Henry's dead." "Your father killed himself." "Oh, I'm sorry you found out this way." "Oh, Dad." "Dad." "I left everything just as it was the day he died." "I thought you'd want it that way, son." "I just can't believe that you're home." "Oh, you've got lines in your face." "I'm an old man." "Oh, it's good to have you in the house again." "I'm glad to see you, Mother." "It's hard for me to realize where you've been, and what you've done." "It seems unreal to me too." "I asked Dr. Bowman to make an appointment with a really good specialist about your leg." "I can imagine what those doctors did to you." "Tell me about Dad." "Oh, I wrote you." "I haven't received any letters in the last month." "Well, it isn't it isn't easy for me to talk about it." "I've sort of shut it up." "And that makes it all right?" "You've got to live with things, Nick." "That was one of your father's troubles." "He just wouldn't help himself." "Yes, I know." "I learned long ago that if things aren't right, you just make them right." "Where did he die?" "Here." "At his desk." "I came into the room and I found him sitting here." "Tilted to one side." "It was horrible." "Horrible." "What happened?" "Why?" "Don't you think I've asked myself that a thousand times?" "Nothing." "Nothing." "Not a thing." "He came in from a call at the Indian camp." "And we talked a little." "And then he came in here." "And later I heard the shot." "He left this addressed to you." "You've torn it open and read it." "Oh, please, Nick." "Please, don't be angry." "He didn't leave any note for me." "I was his wife." "No word at all." "Don't you understand?" "Dear I've reconsidered about the automobile you can use it for dates if I'm not using it." " Thank you." " It does take gas and oil, Nick." " You'll have to pay your share." " I intend to." "But how can you, if you won't let me help you get a job?" "I can open any door in this town for you." "With so many boys going into the service, why you could pick and choose." "You have talent and looks, everything that matters, but you waste it all." "They who have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind." "I've told you, Mom, I don't want to take some draftee's job." "Tell me what kind of job you want and I'll help you get it." "But don't go on wasting your life." "I know you want to write." "And you can write while you're holding down a decent job." "It's been weeks now that you're home and you're still" "I don't know running away." "I'm home, isn't that enough?" "No." "No, it's not." "You live in this house, but you haven't shown me an ounce of affection." "What son comes home from a war like that?" "You haven't spent 10 minutes alone with me." "Nothing about where you were, what you did." "Not to discuss your future." "Just to mope around as if this house and this town was nasty cure you had to take." "This has always been a happy house and I mean to keep it that way." "If any would not work, neither should he eat." "I want to help you as I helped your father." "And bury me as you buried him?" "Ma, the distance between you and me grows 50 miles each day." "I've decided I'm going to leave again." "Oh, Nick." "I don't mean to upset you." "But I should live alone." "And you'd leave me to live alone here?" "My whole life alone?" "You won't be alone." "You'll have your meditations, musicales, your friends." "You'll live as you've always lived." "You'll be fine." "You don't know what it is to be lonely." "Ma." "I tried to come back but I can't." "Some things I just can't help, like when my trousers grew too short for me." " Please, Nick." " You wanna know what happened to me?" "A soldier is blown to pieces right next to me, and you decide I can use the car." "A girl I was to marry dies in my arms, and George wants me to get a date." "Before I had a vision of the world and what it was like." "But it's not like that, Mom, not at all." "So many things happened to me." "So many things." "And I'm gonna write about them." "Not the way they were, but the things inside them that makes them difficult." "And I can't do it here." "It isn't that I don't love you, I do." "Something that started in me that I've got to finish." "Where will you go?" "A man in New York told me when I knew enough I should come back." "I think I know enough." "Will you kneel and pray with me, Nick?" "I can't." "Please try." "No, Mom, I can't." "Would you like me to pray for you?" "Yes." "You pray for me whenever you can." "Father who art in heaven grant that this mother and son shall find in the cradle of Thy affection a way toward their peace and happiness." "Grant Thy protection to my son and guide him in his ways that how he is and what he does shall be in Thy image." "So for the last time you look at the lake beside the house where you were born." "For tomorrow you will try again." "But this time you 're not running away." "You 're moving toward something Not away." "That's the difference." "Whatever you had to do men had always done." "If they had done it, then you could do it too."