Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty

Eddie Cassin and Mosca left the employee office building and walked toward the hangar and takeoff strip through a gray autumn evening. Eddie.Cassin said: "The friends who left were first Middleton, Leo, and now Wolfe. I guess; it's your turn next, Walter." Mosca said nothing.The two of them walked against the flow of people leaving the base.This is a group of German laborers and technicians swarming towards the guarded exit.Suddenly the ground began to tremble, and then they heard the roar of powerful engines.Rounding the corner of the office building, a huge silver-white plane came into view.

The setting sun moved across the sky to the distance.Mosca and Eddie smoke, wait.Finally they saw the jeep drive past the hangar and into the airport.As soon as the jeep began to turn toward the plane's tail and come to a stop, they set off down the ramp toward the plane. Wolfe, Ursula and her father get out of the jeep.Ursula's father immediately put down a heavy and expensive package.Wolfe laughed cheerfully at his two friends. "Great, you two see me off." He shook hands with them as he spoke.Then introduce them to his father-in-law.They all knew Ursula. The propeller blows out a burst of strong airflow, which almost drowns out all voices.Ursula's father approached the plane, reached out and stroked the silvery white hull, stalking around it like a beast looking for food.

Eddie joked to Wolfe, "Is he going to be a rip-off passenger?" Wolfe laughed and said, "He can't take the Queen Elizabeth's oil." Ursula didn't understand, so she glanced quickly at the luggage being loaded onto the plane, and then patted Wolff on the arm. Wolf again held out his hand to Mosca and Eddie and said, "Well, goodbye, my friend. Seriously, it was a good time. You're back in America and you're going to see me. Eddie, you know my address." "Sure." Eddie replied coldly. Wolff looked into Mosca's eyes and said, "Good luck, Wolfe. Unfortunately, that deal didn't go through, but I now think you might be right."

Mosca replied with a smile: "Best trip, Wolfe." Wolfe hesitated, then said: "One last piece of advice; don't stay too long, or you won't be able to get out. Get back to America as soon as possible. That's all I can say." Mosca smiled again and said, "Thanks, Wolf, I'll do it." Ursula's father wobbled around the nose of the plane, approached Wolf, held out his arms, and shouted excitedly: "Wolfgang, Wolfgang, you won't forget that I live here, Wolfgang?" There were tears in his eyes.Wolfe patted the old man on the shoulder, and the paunchy old man hugged him tightly. "I have always regarded you as my son." The old man said, "I will miss you."

Mosca could see that Wolfe was angry and bored, and was eager to leave.But the old man pulled Ursula into his arms again, and said in tears: "Ursula, my daughter, my little daughter, you are my only daughter, you will not forget your old father, you Wouldn't let him live all alone in this dreadful country, would he? My little Ursula would never do that." Her daughter kissed him and comforted him in a low voice: "Dad, don't be so sad. Once I get the ID card, you can go. Please don't be so sad." Wolf's expression was cold, with a half-smile.He touched Ursula on the shoulder and said in German, "It's time."

The fat old man burst into tears: "Ursula, Ursula." Now the young girl's heart was very heavy: both guilty and angry that her father should have shown an unseemly behavior when she had good luck. Crying bitterly, she reluctantly left, ran up the stairs, and got into the cabin. Wolfe took the old man's hand. "You have upset her. I promise you: You will leave here to spend the rest of your life in America with your daughter and grandson. I promise to keep my word." The old man nodded; "You are a good man, Wolfgang, you are a good man." Wolfe gave Eddie and Mosca a casual military salute, a little embarrassed, and hurried up the steps to the plane.

Behind one of the windows, through the dirty, rain-streaked glass, was Ursula's frowning face, saying goodbye to her father.Suddenly he turned back and burst into tears, waving his white bandanna at him.The plane began to roar like thunder.The ground crew pushed the step ladder away.The huge silver-white machine began to slide slowly, advancing along the runway by its own power.Rolling faster and faster, until barely off the ground, roaring into the dark sky; as if wrestling with some evil forces. Mosca watched until the plane disappeared.At that time, he heard Eddie talking to himself: "The mission has been completed, and the smooth sailing left Europe." There was infinite emotion in the voice.

The three stood silently, staring at the sky.Their figures merged into one gigantic shadow before the sun escaped the sheets of cloud in the autumn sky to hide below the horizon.Mosca glanced at the old man.He will never see his daughter again, never leave this continent.The big, wrinkled face was turned up, staring intently at the rootless sky.As if looking for some hope, some promise.Then a pair of small, narrowed eyes looked at Mosca and said, "Ah, my friends, it's a thing of the past." The voice was muffled, full of resentment and despair. Mosca dipped a linen cloth in a pan of hot water, wrung it dry, and applied the steaming sheet to Helena's face.Hai Lian was lying on the sofa, her eyes filled with tears from the pain.The swollen muscles distorted the nose, pulled the mouth, and made the left eye oddly shaped.Mrs. Saunders sat with the baby in an armchair by the sofa, tilting the bottle to make it easier for the baby to suck.

While constantly changing the hot compresses, Mosca said with a friendly face and soft voice: "We will continue to heat the compresses for two days, and everything will get better. We must persist and keep quiet." In this way, the two of them sat together After a whole afternoon, the swelling subsided slightly.The baby in Mrs. Saunders' arms began to cry; so Helene sat up on the sofa and reached for the baby.She tore off the hot compress and said to Mosca; "I can't take it anymore." She took the baby in Mrs. Saunders's arms, put the half of her face that was not swollen on the baby's head, and whispered to herself: "Poor baby, your mother can't take care of you." Then, her clumsy, dysfunctional hands fumbled to change the baby's diaper.Mrs. Saunders helped.

Mosca noticed carefully that she had been in constant pain for nearly a week, and the lack of sleep had exhausted her.Doctors at the German hospital also said her illness was not serious enough to warrant the use of penicillin.His only hope is that Yergin sells him the drug at midnight today.However, for the first two days, Yerkin had disappointed him greatly. Helene dressed the child and Mosca took over.He rocked the baby in his arms and noticed Helene trying to smile at him as she lay back on the couch.Yet all he saw were tears that had begun to flow from the pain.She turned her face away from his sight.He could still hear thin, uncontrollable sobbing.

Whenever possible, Mosca was always by Helene's side."I'm going to see if Yerkin has any penicillin," he said after he put the baby in the rocker. It was a long time before midnight, so to hell with it.Maybe catch him at his house.It's close to eight o'clock now, which is exactly the time for Germans to eat dinner.He leaned down to kiss Helene, and she raised her hand to touch his cheek. "I'll be back as soon as possible." The first cold snap of winter made Kufsteiner Strasse chilly.In the darkness, he heard fallen leaves swirling on the ground, rustling, and blowing into the ruins of the city.He caught a streetcar bound for the church where Yergin lived.The side door of the church was left open, so he ran up the steps leading to the steeple.He stood on a step below the door, knocked on the door as hard as he could, waited a while, but no one answered: there was no sound from behind the door.So he tried to knock on the door in various ways, hoping to meet the signal Yerkin had prescribed.The child will open the door and he can ask her.But for some reason, he didn't call the door.He waited a little longer, when he distinctly heard a sound like that of a frightened small animal, monotonous--changing in tune only on one scale.Mosca became aware of the crying child behind the door; out of fear, she would never open the door for him.He went down the steps and waited for Yergin outside the church. He waited a long time.The wind is getting colder and colder, the night is getting darker, the rustling of leaves and the sound of falling leaves are getting louder and louder.He stood waiting, feeling a terrible sense of unhappiness in him.He tried to maintain his composure, but turned abruptly away from the church and walked down Kufsteinstrasse. After leaving the church and strolling for a few minutes, the fear gradually disappeared.Then he remembered the pain, the tearful powerlessness of watching, and he stopped.The pressure, tension, and humiliation he experienced in the past week, as well as Dr. Adlock's indifference, his adjutant's censure, the German hospital's doctor's refusal, and his own helplessness towards them...all these weighed him down.You want to drink, drink three or four glasses.The urgency surprised even himself.He never drank, but now he turned without hesitation and headed for the bar at the Officers Club.He was ashamed at one point for not coming home. The night in the club was quiet.There were a few officers in the bar, no music or dancing, just a few women.Mosca took three sips of whiskey, which worked incredibly quickly.He suddenly felt the pressure on his body relieved, and the fear disappeared.And look at everything in harmony.Hai Lian just had a broken tooth, and such a group of sworn enemies just obeyed the rules set by others and followed the rules. An officer in the bar said to him, "Your friend Eddie is upstairs playing dice." Mosca nodded his thanks.Another officer told him, grinning, "Your other guy is upstairs, the adjutant. He's celebrating his promotion to major." "I've drank to that," Mosca said, and they all laughed.Mosca opened his jacket, lit a cigarette, drank a few sips of wine one after another, felt warm all over his body, and was convinced that the actual situation was good.Hell, it's just a toothache.He knew that Helian was very sensitive to pain.How strange, he thought, that she was moving forward with everything except physical pain.What a coward she was.He suddenly felt a surge of anger that reminded him of a saying about her: not a coward, but a cry at every turn. Now the warmth produced by the alcohol has weakened slightly, and he occasionally caught a trace of white sparkle in the open inner pocket of the jacket. He immediately recalled that this was the first letter Helian wrote to his mother a few days ago, and he forgot to mail it. Out.His mother had written asking for a reply and to send some pictures of the baby.Mosca walked out of the bar and dropped the letter into the mailbox in the hall.He hesitated for a moment when a faint voice somewhere in his brain warned him not to go upstairs.But the tinnitus from the whiskey overwhelmed the sound, and he went upstairs into the recreation room. Eddie sat at the corner of the table with a small bundle of military rolls in one hand.The Deputy Palace was sitting opposite him, his blunt face was a little strange, his face was flushed, showing an expression of being sneakily caught on the spot.Mosca was shocked.oops!This guy is very rich.He wanted to turn around and go out immediately, but curiosity drove him towards the silver table.He thought: I'll see if this bastard can turn people into drunks. Eddie asked, "How's your girlfriend?" Mosca said, "Fine." A waiter went upstairs and entered the recreation room with a tray of wine. The process of this kind of game is slow, the spirit is relaxed, and it is not as exciting and tense as gambling.It's just what Mosca likes.He casually told Eddie that he was betting a small amount. Only the adjutant was having fun.He did everything possible to motivate the participants into high tension.When it was his turn to flip silver, he dropped a thirty-dollar bet, only ten dollars of which were tarnished bills.Most of the items he offers are fashionable items of all kinds.Others, seemingly in a rut, refuse to be too aggressive and continue to place bets of one to five dollars. Mosca felt guilty.He thought to himself: I should get out of here, go home and see how Helene is doing, and go to Yergin.But there was only an hour before the club closed for the night, so I decided to wait until it closed. The Lieutenant had given up hope of thrills in games and was looking for other pleasures.He asked Mosca: "I heard you brought your German woman to the base for free medical care. You should understand, Walter." This was the first time he used Mosca's Christian name. One of the officers went on to say: "My God, don't talk about business while you're playing." At this moment, Mosca immediately understood why he stayed and why he came to the club.And now he was trying to get away, trying to get himself off the table and keeping his hands off the rest of the money.However, a cruel thought of revenge rose in his body, rushing into his heart like a flood, washing away his reason.The failures, the setbacks, the humiliation, the humiliation of the past week had poisoned his blood and the veins in his ribs.He thought: Well, you son of a bitch, just wait and see.Still, he said in a nonchalant tone, "I do think the doctor will help." Sounding a little excited. "Stuff like that never happens in my jurisdiction," said the adjutant. "And when it does, I'll know. Usually it's the work of fools who have been duped." The adjutant went on to say seriously, "I'm not a cruel man, but I believe in fair treatment. Also, if he treats your German woman, then all the American soldiers will start bringing their temporary concubine German women to the base for injections. You can't do that." A childlike smile appeared on the adjutant's innocent face.He raised his glass and took a deep sip. Mosca stared at the green tablecloth and the jokes on the table.Eddie was talking about something: but the words were slurred.Mosca raised his head with difficulty, and said calmly, "I bet two dollars." The adjutant put his glass on the ledge behind him and tossed a ten-dollar bill onto the table. "I crush you," he said. Mosca picked up the banknote and threw it at the adjutant. "Never let you succeed." He said in a cold and calm tone.After another officer drops a few dollars, Mosca rolls on. "You have a special attachment to that German woman," said the adjutant.He is still interested.Didn't feel the tension around him; "Perhaps you think those German women have a pure, unselfish love for you homeless fools. If I were in charge, I wouldn't let any of you stupid fellows in the Get married here." Mosca put the silver on the table and asked in an almost nonchalant, casual tone: "Then why delay my marriage application, you sneaky bastard." The adjutant smiled very happily. "I have to deny your question. However, I would like to ask, where did you get this news?" He asked back in a business-like manner, with threats and orders in his words. Mosca picked up the silver.He was no longer worried, just waiting for the adjutant to attack him. "Where did you get this news?" asked the adjutant, with a serious expression on his placid face, with a youthful, gruff air. "Where did you get this news?" he asked again. Mosca rattled the dice and threw them roughly.He said to the adjutant: "You vile fool, go and frighten the Germans." Eddie interrupted: "I told him. If he wants to know, I'll tell him the inside story. It was you who sent the marriage application to Frankfurt after a two-week delay." He turned to Mosca: "Come on, Walter, we let's go." The adjutant sat at the side of the table near the wall and the window.Mosca wanted him to come out—to force him out of the corner.He thought for a moment; then he said, "Do you think the bastard deserves to be punished tonight?" Immediately realizing the threat to him, the adjutant yelled hysterically, "Let them see what you can do to me?" He started walking around the table.Mosca waited until his arms were squeezed into the corner, and then he swung his hand and slapped the adjutant hard on the side of the face.The fist grazed the adjutant's cheekbone and skull, not hurting him, but knocking him to the ground.Mosca kicked viciously under the table. He felt the back of his foot hit the bone and was hit hard.An officer and Eddie pull him away.Mosca obediently let them push towards the wooden door.Suddenly Mosca turned and ran across the room.The adjutant stood there stiffly.Mosca punched him hard in the waist.Both of them fell to the floor.The adjutant screamed in pain.Mosca's facial expression and his sudden onslaught on the unsuspecting man left the others petrified, for a moment like clay sculptures.Just as Mosca stuck his finger into the adjutant's ear, trying to tear off half of his face, the other three officers rushed forward and threw themselves on Mosca.One of them threw a knockout punch at the horn of his mane.They then forcefully deadlift him down the stairs and out of the clubhouse.Eddie was helping them, never expecting such revenge.The cold night air woke Mosca. He was alone with Eddie. "That last punch screwed everything up," Eddie said. "Why on earth are you so mad?" “I’m going to kill the son of a bitch, that’s why,” Mosca said. But the backlash had already begun: His hands trembled uncontrollably as he lit a cigarette, and he felt cold sweat dripping down his body.He thought: Well, the fight is over, try to keep your hands quiet. On the dark street, they stood together. "I can't handle it," Eddie said, "but the army is going to purge you, you know? Don't wait, go to Frankfurt tomorrow and try to get a marriage certificate. I'm here to cover you. Just get your marriage certificate, Put everything else aside." Mosca thought for a moment. "I guess that's what it is. Thanks, Eddie." For some reason, he shook Cassin's hand awkwardly.He knew Eddie would do anything to help him. "Are you going home now?" Eddie asked. "No," Mosca said, "I've got to find Yergin." He turned and walked away from Eddie.Then he turned around and yelled, "I'm calling you from Frankfurt." The cold autumn moon illuminated his way to church.He ran up the steps, and Yergin opened the door before he could knock. "Try to be as quiet as possible," Yerkin said. "It took me a long time to put my daughter to sleep." They entered the room, and the sound of the child's heavy breathing could be heard behind the wooden partition.Mosca could hear a strange pause in the breath.He saw Jerkin furious.Just looking for someone desperately. "You came here soon after dark?" "No," Mosca lied.He hesitated, though, and Yergin knew he was lying. "I have the medicine you want," said Yerkin.He was glad that Mosca had frightened his children, and that gave him an angry courage to do what he had to do. "I have a few bottles of penicillin and some codeine tablets, but the medicines are very expensive." He took out a small cardboard box from his pocket, opened the lid, and showed Mosca the four dark brown medicine bottles and one Pack Of Red Sugar Coated Codeine Jumbo Tablets.Even if he instinctively told Mosca now that the penicillins were worth a fraction of the black market price, it probably wouldn't help.Let him pay a reasonable price for these medicines.While he was thinking, hesitating, his daughter was breathless for a while, and the room was silent, and he saw Mosca staring at the partition.Breathing began again, with the heavy rhythm of sleep.Yergin breathed a sigh of relief before the two of them began to move. "The price is fifty cigarettes." He saw Mosca staring at him with a small black gleam in his eyes, with a sudden merciless insight and understanding. "Well," Mosca said, "I don't care how much you pay. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the drug?" Yergin only paused for a moment, while various thoughts raced through his mind. He needs as many cigarettes as possible.Then you can switch out the large amount of money needed for the plan and leave Germany in January.Maybe Helian doesn't need penicillin.Because once the doctors in Bremen know that a certain girl has American friends, they always ask for penicillin so that they can save some.Jergin thought again of his daughter, whose business was most important. "Don't worry, I guarantee the medicine." Yerkin said, "The person who provided the medicine has never deceived me." He patted his chest with his hands, "I also want to take responsibility." "Well," said Mosca, "look, I've got twenty now, and maybe I can get more; but if I can't get them, I'll pay you $5 each with military coupons or American checks. Pay that price, will you?" He knew what he said was fair, and he knew just as well that Yergin had swindled out a lot of money.But his conflict with his adjutant still affects him.He felt tired, hopeless, alone.He wanted to succumb to the German and beg him for mercy.Yergin happened to be aware of this too, and became more and more unreasonable. "I'll have to pay in cigarettes," said Yergin, "and I suppose you'll have to pay me in cigarettes, too." He makes one last attempt. "I need this narcotic tonight." "I've got to get my cigarettes tonight," Yerkin replied, this time with an involuntary malice in his voice, unaware that he was saying it because he had always hated Americans. Mosca restrained himself, acted nonchalantly, and refrained from doing anything.The scene in the club still makes him feel ashamed and terrified.He had to be careful not to make mistakes.He picked up the cardboard box of medicine and put it in his pocket; his face was sullen, neither threatening nor angry.Instead, politely offer reasonable opinions. "Let's go to my house together, and I'll give you twenty packs of cigarettes and money. Please wait a few days, and I'll try to get the rest. Then, you'll return the money." Yergin saw that there was nothing to stop Mosca from leaving here with the medicine.He immediately felt a pang of fear; his blood flow slowed.He was by no means a coward, but he was always afraid of leaving his daughter alone in this ruined land.He went behind the partition and pulled the blanket over his sleeping daughter.Then go to another separate room to get the hat and coat.They walked towards Mosca's house in silence, without saying a word. Mosca asked Yergin to wait.He had to wait for Helian to take the codeine tablets before delivering the money; she was still awake, the white outline of the swollen half of her face visible in the darkness. "How is it?" he asked softly, almost in a whisper, so as not to wake the baby in the pram. She replied in a low voice, "It hurts badly." "It's a painkiller." He handed her a large red-shelled codeine tablet.He watched her push the medicine down her throat with her fingers, then gulp down the water he had brought to her lips from the glass. "I'll be right back," he said. He hastily bundled a large bundle of cigarettes, brought them to the door, and handed them to Yerkin.Then he drew a check for Americans only from his wallet, signed it, and put the blue tissue in Yergin's pocket.Out of politeness and sympathy, he asked: "It's curfew time, will you be in trouble? I'll send you back." "No need, I have a curfew pass," Yerkin replied with a grin.With a large bundle of cigarettes on his arm, he smiled happily. Mosca sent Yergin away, went to the door, and went back to the bedroom.Helian is still awake.He lay beside her with his clothes on.He told her what happened in the club.And said he must go to Frankfurt the next day. "I'm going to get an application for a marriage license. We leave here in January and fly to America." He whispered.Also told about his mother and Alf; describing how happy they would be to see her.He said it all with certainty, with ease, that it would happen naturally.He obviously felt that her body was gradually warming up, and she was drowsy.Suddenly she asked, "Can I have another tablet?" He got up, took one and handed it to him, bringing the water to her lips.Before she fell asleep, he told her about getting the penicillin and going to the doctor the next day for an injection."I'll be calling every night from Frankfurt; I won't even be there for three days," he said. She was fast asleep, breathing weakly.He sat on a chair by the window, smoking one cigarette after another, and looked at piles of clear-cut ruins under the moonlight of the autumn night.Then he turned on the light in the kitchen, packed a few things he needed for the trip into his blue travel bag, and forced himself to eat a few eggs and drink a cup of tea, craving something that would help him sleep.He lay beside Helian again, waiting for the dawn.