ALL MEN ARE
357
of love? He was as much her tool as if he had been married to her.
And a few days before he'd greeted Germans with rifle butts.
"What .are you going to do with her, Smitty?" I asked. "She
isn't loot you can send home through the mails. She's no trophy of
war."
But Smitty wanted no discussion of his situation. He had fierce
eyes for my inquiry. But I pressed it. "How do you know, Smitty,
that you didn't knock off some of her relatives? Maggie isn't the
type to forgive that. You got debts to payoff."
"I'll tell you straight, Doc," he warned me. "I don't give a
damn what it's ever been between me and anybody else. That goes
for you and the rest of the guys. And it goes for dead krauts. What
I got with her is my private business."
"Could you kill her if you had to, Smitty?"
"I warn you to layoff, Doc. I don't want no trouble."
"Suppose she's a spy, Smitty. Could you stamp her out with
your rifle butt? Is she so special?"
"Goddam you!" he snarled. "You're damn right she's special.
If all
Europe was piled in one heap and all the GIs laid out on top,
it
wouldn't make no difference to me."
"And she makes a difference."
"Goddam you, Doc!" He shook his fist at me. "Yes! She makes
a difference. She's the only goddam difference there is."
Well, the killer had a soft spot .and she'd reached it.
The boredom of waiting made us tense with expectations of
the Russians. The plain between Gelbe and Chemnitz was thick with
refugee fires and makeshift tents. The Germans offered all in their
power-their bodies, their cameras, their watches, their silver, even
their worthless marks-as purchase for their entry into safe territory.
But their predicament was too common and universal to disturb us.
Bodies were a plentiful commodity. We accepted the loot without
regard for payment.
When the Russians came, it was most casually. Two ragged
soldiers in baggy tunics, dirty boots, and stained trousers approached
our guards, their poorly machined burp guns tucked under their arms.
These two grinning men, short, clumsy fellows, with wild hair peaked
by overseas caps, embraced our guards enthusiastically. We were not
moved. They came to our CP and were offered cognac which they
