down the door.
A lot of houses are empty. The residents have left for good or are hiding in the forest. These uninhabited houses are searched just like the others, along with all the stores and shops.
After the soldiers have gone, thieves invade the abandoned shops and houses. The thieves are mainly children and old men, and a few women too, those who are fearless or those who are poor.
We meet Harelip. Her arms are full of clothes and shoes. She says to us:
"Hurry up while there's still something left. This is the third time I've done my shopping."
We go into the Booksellers and Stationers, whose door is smashed in. There are only a few children inside, younger than us. They are taking pencils and colored chalk, erasers, pencil sharpeners, and schoolbags.
We take our time choosing what we need: a complete encyclopedia in several volumes, pencils, and paper.
In the street, an old man and an old woman are fighting over a smoked ham. They are surrounded by people laughing and urging them on. The woman scratches the old man's face, and in the end she goes off with the ham.
The thieves are guzzling stolen alcohol, picking fights with each another, smashing the windows of the houses and shops they've looted, breaking crockery, flinging to the floor whatever they don't need or can't carry off with them.
The soldiers are also drinking and returning to the houses, but this time to find women.
Everywhere we hear gunshots and the cries of women being raped.
On the Town Square, a soldier plays the accordion. Other soldiers dance and sing.
The Fire
For several days now, we haven't seen our neighbor in her garden. Nor have we met Harelip. We go and investigate.
The door of the shack is open. We enter. The windows are small. It is dark in the room, even though the sun is shining outside.
When our eyes get used to the darkness, we can make out our neighbor lying on the kitchen table. Her legs are dangling, her arms are covering her face. She doesn't move.
Harelip is lying on the bed. She is naked. Between her spread legs there is a dried pool of blood and sperm. Her eyelashes are stuck together forever, her lips are curled up over her black teeth in an eternal smile; Harelip is dead.
Our neighbor says:
"Go away."
We approach her and ask:
"You aren't deaf?"
"No. And I'm not blind either. Go away."
We say:
"We want to help you."
She says:
"I don't need help. I don't need anything. Go away."
We ask:
"What happened here?"
"You can see for yourself. She's dead, isn't she?"
"Yes. It was the new foreigners?"
"Yes. She called them. She went out on the road and waved at them to come in. There were twelve or fifteen of them. And as they took her, she kept shouting: 'Oh, I'm so happy, I'm so happy! Come, all of you, come on, another one, again, another one!' She died happy, fucked to death. But I'm not dead! I've been lying here without eating or drinking for I don't know how long. And death hasn't come. It never does come when you call it. It enjoys torturing us. I've been calling it for years and it pays no attention."
We ask:
"Do you really want to die?"
"What else could I want? If you'd like to do something for me, set fire to the house. I don't want anyone to find us like this."
We say:
"But you'll suffer terribly."
"Don't worry about that. Just set the fire, if you're capable of it."
"Yes, madam, we are capable of it. You can depend on us."
We slit her throat with a stroke of the razor, then we go and siphon some gasoline from an army vehicle. We pour the gasoline over both bodies and on the walls of the shack. We set fire to it and go home.
In the morning, Grandmother says: "The neighbor's house burned down. They were both inside, her daughter and her. The girl must have left something on the fire, ninny that she is."
We go back to get the hens and the rabbits, but other neighbors have already taken them during the night.
The End of the War
For weeks now, we have seen them marching past
David Gemmell
Teresa Trent
Alys Clare
Paula Fox
Louis - Sackett's 15 L'amour
Javier Marías
Paul Antony Jones
Shannon Phoenix
C. Desir
Michelle Miles