“Of course in those days you were still infants,” he said fiercely. “Infants, and now it’s your generation that’s in control. Let me tell you something”—he continued his rather disjointed speech—“you may very well have a chance to experience a war someday … and you have every right to. Just make sure you enjoy yourselves now because afterward it’s too late. Ha ha … In our company there were four of us friends, two are still alive … Becker and myself … But it was an experience all right … the war was an experience … it’s definitely an experience … as long as you don’t drop dead. You’ll see … You’ll see. It will either make real men out of you … or else corpses. An experience, no doubt about it … I was at Cambrai, too, fighting the tanks. A tank like that’s a lot more sturdy … than a hallway mirror for instance … You’ll see for yourselves! I’d like to join you … I’d like to go along once more, just to see how you take things … ha ha … Because it’s not as simple as you think, ramming a bayonet into another man’s stomach … especially when the other guy has one, too. There are two types of bullets, you see … the ones you shoot and the ones that come back … like I was saying … maybe you’ll experience that … the returns … but I won’t. But why did you stop playing? Go on and play … we always had music in my company, always! Becker had a harmonica … He could play that thing to where you completely forgot there was a war on … so keep playing, men, go on and play!”

The train slowed down, and the man’s back was no longer to be seen.

“I have to get off,” Silbermann said. “A pity … there was so much I could have told you … I was there … also in Russia. The 1914 advance. Trenches. Foxholes … Twice wounded, badly … well, but I have to change here … I have to change quite often … Ha.”

He dashed out of the compartment, ran down the corridor, and jumped off the train before it came to a stop. Clinging tightly to his briefcase, he hurried across the platform.

“The train to Leipzig?” he asked a porter as he ran. The porter pointed the way.

Nice fellows, Silbermann thought back to the soldiers. What was I saying, anyway? It doesn’t matter. I’m sure they didn’t understand a word. I’m thinking of going to Leipzig, but I could just as well go back to Berlin. Why Leipzig of all places! Especially considering I never found the Saxons all that agreeable.

He stopped another porter. “The train to Berlin?” he asked.

“It leaves in twenty minutes.”