Page 132 (1/2)

As if reading her erous quest, Rainy”

He leaves, downcast and worried But his mood doesn’t concern Rainy, because she knows she has convinced him

He’ll help me He’ll help me kill Nazis

“Hah!” she cries, exultant now A Silver Star? That will help her get the tough assigne of them It will make it possible, with Herkemeier’s help, to hurt them

Rainy cocks an eye at Pip “You think I’ve gone round the bend, don’t you, Pip? WellWell, maybe I have But you knohat, old Pip my friend? I feel a hell of a lot better”

37

FRANGIE MARR, RAINY SCHULTERMAN, RIO RICHLIN—RINGWOULD, KENT, UK

The cereiven that Dover has been boh not recently—plus the fact that there is scarcely a spare bedrooie, Rainy, and Rio are housed in a pub’s rented roowould, just northeast of Dover and south of Deal

It is the land of the famous white cliffs The ar the shore for a while so they can admire the cliffs—which are indeed snohite except where creeping foliage has added splashes of green

Their roo at the rooht is that she should volunteer to sleep in the chair She is, after all, a Negro, and neither of the white girls with her is likely to want to share a bed

But she can practically hear Harder in her ear telling her that she’s acting like a second-class citizen British hotels are not segregated—which is not to say that the English aren’t racists, but their treat without quite reaching the levels of open hatred Frangie would have expected in the South, and, if Harder’s right, much of the north, back home

Rio solves the probleot the floor”

“The floor?” Frangie protests “What do you mean?”

Rio shrugs “I’ve been sleeping in mud Cold mud A nice, clean floor is pure luxury”

“Still cold, though,” Frangie says “I can see my breath in here”