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Reich wanted for her armies. The women found him attractive and
he was always confident in their company. Paul, whom Erick had known
since school, was somewhat shorter, but stronger. Erick remembered
Paul as a quiet boy who had fought all the bullies in the academy.
They were good friends.

They entered the cafe and ordered beer from the little man behind
the bar. The first one they gulped down and the second one they
nursed. There was no one else in the place except an old man in the
corner drinking schnapps. Just then the door opened and two girls
came in. They paid no attention to the soldiers. After ordering wine
they went to a corner table and sat down. Paul look at Erick and
winked-this was a nice development.

They both got up and carried their mugs of beer over to the
corner. The girls looked up and smiled. As the soldiers introduced
themselves, Erick noticed that one of the girls looked a great deal
like his sister back in Munich. How nice it was to see someone who
reminded him of home. They sat down and ordered four more drinks
and four more after that. Paul's Polish was good enough to keep the
conversation running smoothly, and to Erick it seemed that he had
never left Germany. The girls smiled often, and there was no apparent
bitterness of a newly conquered people. The girls said they shared
a room nearby and if the boys wanted to, they could come and have
dinner with them. Despite all. the beer they had drunk on an empty
stomach, they finally made their way to a little rooming house.

After the soldiers had shaved and cleaned up a bit, they had their
first home cooked meal since leaving Germany. They danced to an
old gramaphone and drank French wine that one of the girls- had
bought in Warsaw before the war. Much later the boys went to bed.
The big feather beds seemed like heaven to Paul and Erick and they
forgot all military obligations.

Erick breathed deep into the musty smell of the thick mattress
and dreamed of home. He dreamed of his parents' little cottage in
the suburbs of Munich. He smiled as he dreamed of his sweetheart
and he was still smiling as the Polish girl, who reminded him of his
sister, drove a knife into his back.

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