It was high noon. Now the odors of the ruined city stank on the hot air and things crawled among the tumbled buildings.

‘Won’t it ever come back, mister?’

‘What, civilization? Nobody wants it. Not me!’ ‘I could stand a bit of it,’ said the man behind another n. ‘There were a few spots of beauty in it.’

‘Don’t worry your heads,’ shouted Grigsby. ‘There’s no room for that, either.’

‘Ah,’ said the man behind the man. ‘Someone’ll come along some day with imagination and patch it up. Mark my words. someone with a heart.’

‘No,’ said Grigsby.

‘I say yes. Someone with a soul for pretty things. Might give us back a kind of limited sort of civilization, the kind we could live in in peace.’

‘First thing you know there’s war!’

‘But maybe next time it’d be different,’

At last they stood in the main square. A man on horseback was riding from the distance into the town. He had a peace of paper in his hand. In the centre of the square was the roped-off area. Tom, Grigsby, and the others were collecting their spittle and moving forward moving forward prepared and ready, eyes wide. Tom felt his heart beating very strongly and excitedly, and the earth was hot under his bare feet.

‘Here we go, Tom, let fly!’

Four policemen stood at the corners of the roped area, four men with bits of yellow twine on their wrists to show thcir authority over other men. They were there to prevent rocks being hurled.

‘This way,’ said Grigsby at the last moment, ‘everyone. feels he’s had his chance at her, you see, Tom? Go on, now!’

Tom stood before the painting and looked at it for a it for a long time.

‘Tom, spit!’

His mouth was dry.

‘Get on, Tom! Move!’

‘But,’ said Tom, slowly, ‘she’s beautiful.’


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