PARTISAN REVIEW
219
She claps her hands silently for a long time. "That's healthy.
You must have some fucking mouth."
I get back into bed and we kiss. "I love you, old man."
"Yeah, yeah."
"You have this red scar that runs from the left side of your
belly button almost to the side of your groin. It's raised. I am
conscious of it when I touch your stomach. Halfway down there is
a much smaller scar that runs diagonally across it."
"I've told you about it before."
"Yes. I know. Tell me again. Change the story, Noel."
"I was in Korea--"
"When?"
"Let's see, spring of 1953."
"Holy cow, I was six years old."
That's the phrase she used--holy cow--I swear. "I was
walking in the woods. I used to like to walk in the woods in
Korea. Sometimes I would do it with other men, and sometimes I
would do it by myself. This time I was by myself, and I was
walking in the woods. It was nighttime and I bumped into this
Chinese soldier. That was a very unusual thing to happen. Some–
times when I was walking in the woods someone would shoot at
me and sometimes I would shoot at someone or something, but I
never really bumped into anyone. He had on this funny hat and he
looked--he looked very Chinese. I mean, he looked just the way
you would think a Chinese guy would look; kinda short and
dumpy and those funny eyes. We stood there looking at each
other [or a long time. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I sat
down and he sat down . I offered him a cigarette and he took it
and we both smoked. We just sat there for a while listening to the
one-five-fives sounding off in the night, not saying anything to
each other. I picked up a stick and threw it and he picked up a
stick and threw it. He liked that a lot. He put his hands on his
head and started to laugh. 'Do-you-want-to-surrender-to-me,' I
asked him. 'If-you-surrender-to-me-I-will-personally-see-to-it- that–
you-get-exceIIent-treatment. I-will-personally-see-to-it.' He nodded
his head, yes, really violently. He kept nodding it up and down, up
and down. 'O.K.-O.K.' I said, 'You-are-my-prisoner.' We both
