what had changed in her. Her face was sallower, and there was a long
scar, partly hidden by the hair, across her forehead and temple; but that
was not the change. It was that her waist had grown thicker, and, in a
surprising way, had stiffened. He remembered how once, after the explosion
of a rocket bomb, he had helped to drag a corpse out of some ruins, and had
been astonished not only by the incredible weight of the thing, but by its
rigidity and awkwardness to handle, which made it seem more like stone than
flesh. Her body felt like that. It occurred to him that the texture of her
skin would be quite different from what it had once been.
He did not attempt to kiss her, nor did they speak. As they walked
back across the grass, she looked directly at him for the first time. It
was only a momentary glance, full of contempt and dislike. He wondered
whether it was a dislike that came purely out of the past or whether it was
inspired also by his bloated face and the water that the wind kept
squeezing from his eyes. They sat down on two iron chairs, side by side but
not too close together. He saw that she was about to speak. She moved h