Catroux and the men are sitting in silence on the moldy hay. There is not much to say anyway, and they choose not to reminisce on the past and do not talk about the fate that awaits them as they know it will be horrible. They avoid the subject of escape because they know it is futile unless some miracle happens. They are like men in a mentally airless void, deprived of all present, past, or future thoughts.
Therefore they all are startled when Jack Ritchie speaks. “Mon Sergent,” he says. “Can we not move this hay to one side? It is filthy and full of mold.”
Mon Sergent“Yes, I would prefer to lie on the stone floor than on this rubbish,” Petacci adds.
“Do not you feel like having a long, hot bath?” Fritz teases.
“You are the last person who can say anything, Field Marshall Rommel,” Pod
