a German. William crouched in the wet undergrowth for a few more seconds and then saw, to his horror, the next Division coming through the, forest. He ran from his shelter behind a tree to warn them of the ambush. The first bullet hit him in the head, and, as he sank to his knees in the German mud and continued to wave a fraatic warning to his advancing comrades, the second hit him in the neck and a third in the chest. He lay still in the mud and waited to die, not having even seen the enemy - a dirty, unheroic death.
The next thing William knew, he was being carried on a stretcher, but he couldn't hear or see anything and he wondered if it was night or whether he was blind.
It seemed a long journey. When his eye opened, it focused on a short fat colonel lim ping out of a tent. There was something familiar about him, but he couldn't think what. The stretcher bearers took him into the operating tent and placed him on the table. He tried to fight off sleep for fear it might be death. He slept.
William woke. He was conscious of two people trying to move him. They were turning him over as gently as they could, and then they stuck a needle into him. William dreamed of seeing Kate, and then his mother, and then Matthew playing with his son Richard. He slept.
He woke. He knew they had moved him to another bed; slight hope replaced the thought of inevitable death. He lay motionless, his one eye fixed on the canvas roof of the tenti unable to move his head. A nurse came over to study a chart and then him. He slept.
He woke. How much time had passed? Another nurse. This time he could see a little more and - joy, oh joy - he could move his.head, if only with great pain. He lay awake as long as he possibly could; he wanted to live. He slept.
He woke. Four doctors were studying him, deciding what? He could not hear them and so learnt nothing.
They moved him once again. This time he was able to watch them put him in an army ambulance. The doors closed behind'him, the engine started, and the ambulance began to move over rough ground while a new nurse sat by his side holding him steady. The journey felt like an hour, but he no longer could be sure of time. Tle ambulance reached smoother ground and then came to a halt. Once again they moved him. This time they were walking on a flat surface and then up some stairs into a dark room. They waited again and then the room began to move, another car perhaps. The room took off. Ile nurse stuck another needle into him, and he remembered nothing until he felt a plane landing and ta3ding to a halt. They moved him yet again.
Another ambulance, another nurse, another smell, another city. New York, or at least America, he thought, no other smell Eke that in the world. The new ambulance took him over another smooth surface, continually stopping and starting, until it finally arrived at where it wanted to be. They carried him out once again and up some more steps into a small white - walled room. They placed him in a comfortable bed. He felt his head touch the pillow, and when next he woke, thought he was totally alone. Then his eye focused and he saw Kate standing in front of him. He tried to lift his hand and touch her, to speak, but no words came. She smiled, but he knew she could not see his smile, and when he woke again Kate was still there but wearing a different dress. Or had she come and gone many times? She smiled again. How long had it been? He tried to move his head a little, and saw his son Richard, so tall, so good - looking. He wanted to see his daughters, but couldn~t move his head any further. They moved into his fine of vision, Virginia - she couldn't be that old, and Lucy, it wasn't possible. Where had the years gone? He slept.
He woke. No one was there, but now he could move his head. Some bandages had been removed and he could see more clearly; he tried to say something, but no words came. He slept.
He woke. Less bandages than before. Kate was