Sheer joy of seeing his long absent comrade once more. He leaned over and took his hand.

"Jesus Christ, David you don't know how glad I am to see you."

David looked slightly embarrassed, grinned back at his friend. They gripped hands hard.

(The sailor was looking around the room. He told himself he didn't care. He had to get out of this anyway, find a woman some how. If David had any idea---)

"Tell me about yourself," he said. "Tell me everything that happened to you."

"Oh it's not much to tell," David said. "You know the army."

"Do you like it?" Johnnie asked.

David looked at him scornfully out of the side of his eyes, made a ride, spitting sound.

"I didn't think so," Johnnie said. "Where are you stationed now?"

"Little hell-hole down in Mississippi. Man, the South ain't no place for a nigger."

"So, I've been told," Johnnie said. "Anything happen to you?"

"No just a couple word-fights with some of them damn crackers," David grinned. "We almost had a riot once."

"What happened?"

"Oh some guy from Georgia started shootin' his mouth off-- you know that ol' Civil War joke about the white man goes up to this Northern restaurant an' asks for the head nigger--? Well he started that routine so one of our boys knew him on his ass. Damn cracker tried to get some of his friends to jump the guy but we heard about it an' we were ready." He laughed. Man if those white mother-f---- woulda tried anything there'd a been a lot of dead crackers in Mississippi."

he cried out to the wind for deliverance, but there were only the
whispers (he could no longer understand) what the whispers
portended. He ran with his father behind him. ("Daddy, daddy, please
daddy!") He could not see the wavering buildings for his tears, and
the footsteps were heavy, and close, close, closer yet behind him.

* * * *

He awoke with his bedclothes wringing wet and twisted round
his body and saw the morning bravely attempting entrance into his
room at the back of Charles Street.

End Of Prologue.