Pietro had gone upstairs to his bedroom. He was readying himself to leave. Ursula and the Major never saw one another again. Sure enough, the war had started a few days later, and the Major experienced an adventure – whom men with little imagination thought was simply unbelievable, while those who appreciated the bizarreness of life deemed it completely unique; others, who read mysterious meanings into facts thought it tragic, while those who understood that facts meant nothing at all saw the comedy in it. The matter had been officially hushed up, given that the war was only a few days old and the requisite regulations for hypocrisy hadn’t yet been drawn up. The Major had been wounded while inspecting the southern front lines in his jeep. Such was the confusion along the infinitely long s

