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When there was nothing left of the clothing but gray ash, Cronley closed the furnace door.
“So ends my old life,” Elsa said, “and begins my new one.”
“Yeah,” Cronley said.
The manager waved them onto the stairs. Cronley waved Elsa ahead of him.
Her buttocks moved under the pink skirt of the uniform, and his imagination went to work.
—
They went to the clothing sales store in the Quartermaster Depot, where the same German clerk from earlier now told Elsa that while they stocked underwear, it was “GI.” The PX, the clerk said, had a much nicer and larger selection.
At the PX, Elsa selected a mixed bag of black and red and pink brassieres and underpants. Paying for them exhausted Stack Two of Jimmy’s back pay, requiring him to take a third wad of twenties from his boot top.
“Thank you again,” Elsa said, touching his arm.
Cronley now wondered if he was going to get any of what he had spent back from Connell—never mind all of it—and decided that he wouldn’t.
The only place Connell could get the money was from the XXIInd, and Cronley doubted the XXIInd had funds to pay for clothing for a German national. And Cronley understood that Connell was not at all likely to pay those expenses from his own pocket.
When they were back in the Kapitän, Cronley told her, “I’m going to have to stop by my quarters and pick up stuff—my toilet kit, a clean shirt, et cetera—if I’m going to spend the night in the Kurhotel.”
“All right,” she said. “And then do you think we could get something to eat?”
Jesus, I didn’t even think about feeding her!
He looked at his watch. It was quarter to seven.
“When was the last time you had something to eat?” he asked.
“I had the last of my bread and sausage this morning. All I’ve had since then is that chocolate bar you gave me.”
“The Mess in the Kurhotel—”
“‘The Mess’?”
“The dining room,” he clarified, “opens at seven. It’s pretty good. Can you wait that long?”
“Of course.”
[EIGHT]
Major Connell was leaving his office when Cronley and Frau von Wachtstein walked into the lobby.
“Well, look at you,” he said in German. “Permit me to say you look very nice, Frau von Wachtstein.”
“Thank you,” she replied. “All of these things, plus what we bought in the PX, cost a great deal of money, Herr Major.”
“Well, don’t you worry about that. We’re under orders to take care of your every need,” Connell said, then thought, Which means I’m going to get stuck for everything. “Is there anything else you need?” he added.
“No, thank you.”
“Don’t be hesitant to ask,” he said, then looked at Cronley. “Why are you back here?”
“I came to pick up my toilet kit and a clean shirt, sir,” Cronley said.
“Oh, that’s right, you’ll be staying at the Kurhotel, won’t you?”
