In the evening the whole company - apart from us four criminals - is going to the movies in Rehovot.
But at the last moment it is canceled. The company is planned as a reserve. Rumor has it that another company is to attack Sukreir. Sancho and I stare at each other. Why attack? Haven’t they offered peace?
The whole company is in uproar. "To hell with them," shouts Tarzan. "I’m going to beat up these commanders. Why won’t they let us go to the movies? How many battalions do we need to take this lousy village?"
"Only a dog remains as a reserve!" Tarzan continues to shout. Suddenly he smiles. "You know what?" he explains. "We’ll have a party and finish off the wine that was left over from Pesach."10
We storm the stores and purloin about fifty bottles of red wine. We take it to the little room that is set up as our "hall of culture." We have furnished it with things we found in a deserted cafe. There are stools, a radio we got from the battalion, and a carpet that somehow found its way here.
We begin with a few gulps, passing the bottle around. We roar the company song, the radio plays at full volume, a really cosy atmos-phere fills the room.
"Call yourselves drinkers?" Tarzan shouts. "For ten piasters I’ll finish off a whole bottle in one go."
"So will I, so will I!" squeaks Zuzik.
"I’ll give you five, if you manage that." Sancho likes to bargain.
Tarzan pours the wine down his throat, coughs, and empties the bottle. He takes his money. Zuzik manages half a bottle, then slams it on the floor and runs out. Everybody laughs.
We stand up, staggering and supporting ourselves against the walls. Sancho, the only one who is not dead drunk, grabs me by the collar, leads me to the company barracks, and throws me on my bed. I fall asleep immediately, fully clothed. After less than an hour he wakes me up.
"What is going on? Are you crazy, waking me up in the middle of the night?" I feel sick. Something is pressing on my stomach, like on the evening before our first battle.
"Get up." Sancho shakes me. "Can’t you remember? We are on sentry duty." I groan. Get up, find my rifle, and stagger along behind