animal. Crumpled overalls and the sock hat announce: here is a soldier ... he feels like a stranger in the city, as though he has been away for years. And it is just four days since he reported to the camp. But his civilian life feels to him like something from the distant past, part of history. Hard to believe that just four days ago he was walking around like the others here, exchanging remarks with those very same girls who now appear to him like the denizens of a foreign world...
Home? His parents would be pleased. But he doesn’t have enough time. If he arrived back after ten, without knowing the night pass-word, then he would be exposed. He only has two hours. Not a minute to waste. So - straight to Rachel’s.
Rachel... how often had he thought about her during these four days?
He imagined this evening in bright colors. He would ring the doorbell, she would open the door - and smile. Of course she would smile. Triumphantly he would recount his adventure. How he broke out for her sake, although twenty-four hours in the arrest cells await him if he gets caught.
That is the house. His breathing is labored - he ran half the way so as not to waste any time. Luckily he is used to running. He pauses on the stairs a moment to regain his breath. Then he rings the bell. She opens the door, looks at him with astonishment, yes, she smiles too. But it is a different smile. Not the one he expected.
"Come in" she says, and leads him into the room. Someone is sit-ting there. He is in civilian clothes. They introduce themselves awk-wardly. Somehow they manage to talk about this and that, while she gets changed.
They walk to a little cafe. He tells them about life in the training camp, talks without stopping, so as to have no time to think. She asks if he has gone AWOL. But suddenly he finds he has lost all desire to talk about his heroic deeds.
He feels alien. They don’t understand what he is trying to tell them about - the joys and troubles of a soldier’s life in the training camp. What made him come here? Did he really think she would be waiting for him with open arms?
Quarter past nine. He stands up and takes his leave. He even smiles through his pain.