She and Siri were so engrossed in the story it took a while for them to notice the refreshments on the desk beside theirs. Someone had walked up from the village with three cut coconuts with straws and spoons to cut out the meat. The coconut water was surprisingly chill. Nobody had asked for or ordered anything. It was just one more nicety in a nice place: the type of village that used to exist everywhere.

“I suppose I sprang us both,” said Satsai. “I hated being there. Life education can only go so far before it becomes torment. I hated the French and the Japanese and I missed my home. There was death all around me. So one day I put my ID card in the pocket of a corpse that had no head and I took his papers. I stole a horse and cart, put Hiro on the back, and headed south. Even after I’d untied him he came with me with no drama whatsoever. He’d stopped his ranting and his anger subsided. He wasn’t less insane, just a different type of crazy. He dribbled and stared ahead at something only he could see. I dressed us both in peasants' clothes and we were largely ignored at roadblocks where they assumed our brains were as empty as the cart. The only possession we had was a small knapsack that was supposed to contain Hiro’s personal belongings, although I never opened it. I’d blocked it inside the wooden seat along with his uniform and helmet and I forgot all about it until much later.