Battle of the Rhine

Michael and Mary's marriage continued for several months after Christmas.During this period, Michael tried to see a doctor, and was dismayed to find that there was nothing wrong with his physiology.Doctors suspected that he was suffering from some kind of "legionnaire's syndrome".But he was neither alcoholic nor mentally ill, he was popular in college, and he didn't have typical symptoms at all. "Forget it," Michael said to Mary who accompanied him to the doctor while driving the car, "let's get a divorce."

Mary said, "Didn't you get blown out of your head by a dynamite?" Listening to the doctor's stories of broken veterans, she was full of sympathy for Michael, "Or—"

"Live your life," Michael stared at the rearview mirror. He drove very steadily, which is what Mary praised as "different from ordinary men". "But can't you change someone? Borisen is too short."

Mary was wiping away tears. "Fuck you! He's taller than a musket, I checked."

"Well, Napoleon was a little man too, and it's not a big deal about being short," Michael said, finding it strange for the hundredth time that he didn't hold a grudge against Bollison. "As long as he's a decent gentleman... I'm fine with it."

"You're an idiot, Mike. Terrible, now you know who Napoleon is." Mary choked up a smile, "Bring your college students back from Germany. I've read the newspapers. Germans are having a hard time."

She stubbornly believed that Michael's "physiological problems" were purely caused by the "beautiful German female college student". "It's also a kind of fidelity." Mary came to such a funny conclusion.Only Michael himself understood what was going on: God's punishment was never late, and if it was late, it meant he was too busy to attend to you.As soon as the old man gets some free time... Hmph, Michael glanced at his crotch, all right, based on this realization, he should be able to become a good pastor's assistant.

Michael and Mary formally divorced in the early summer of 1947.John Hunter called him a boneless bastard for letting the woman go with impunity.He vehemently stated that Michael would have to beat Mary at least a few times to sharpen her memory. "It's immoral to hit a woman," Michael said. "Mary's fine, why should I hit her? Come on, stop talking, I'm too busy with my finals."

From the beginning of this summer until Michael graduated from college, various rumors circulated in the town.There is one that is closer to the real situation. It says that the last male of the Fiennes family has his penis blown off by a bomb from the Germans. Mary can't bear it and divorces in anger.It’s not [-]% nonsense either, Michael scrambled eggs with a cigarette in his mouth, he also tried to date a real female college student, nothing changed, his heart and crotch remained the same.

To be honest, he was quite popular at school.A veteran of the Second World War, not bad-looking—Michael was quite confident about this, and he felt that girls liked him mostly because of his nose and eyes.A girl praised him for his always smiling eyes, which made him look very cute.Adorable is an ugly word for a man, but since it was a good intention, Michael took it all, went out to the movies with the girl, and went on to find, sadly, that his "physical problems" hadn't improved in any way.

Mary and little Borison were married.After the divorce, she and Michael resumed their friendship.Except they don't sleep in the same room, they get along much the same as before. "Why don't you bring the college students back?" Mary kept urging him, "Beware of Kana being snatched away by others, you know, beautiful girls who have studied are especially sought after."

"Well, she has a husband," Michael replied, with a constant answer. "Perhaps her husband has returned, and perhaps she has three children by now."

"Then you shall duel her husband with your Luger."

"No, that gun doesn't work very well."

"Use your shotgun..."

"That old one can only hit mice."

"Then use 'da da da'—"

"Forget it," Michael said, sipping his coffee, flipping through a job brochure, "she doesn't love me, she just, uh, for the bread. So does Tim's girlfriend...you remind me, I Gotta find out if they brought Tim back after all..."

time flies.As soon as the war was over, the reconstruction of Germany began, and the whole country struggled silently amidst the ruins.Michael touched the military card. Four years later, Quincy has probably become the father of a child, um, at least two children.

In 1950, Michael graduated.Who would have thought I could get a college degree?The day before he left for college, he packed his bags, and Mary and Dan came to his graduation with Will in their arms.Adam, going to graduate school, was sitting on the bed and crying.In his last year of college, he had somehow entered the puberty stage and jumped almost a foot in height.Michael looked at Adam's trousers hanging from his ankles—he was growing too fast for them to keep up with him—and thought of Quincy.

"When I was in Germany, I took a prisoner." Michael cleared his throat, and he was sad too, how much fun it was to go to school, and he didn't find it fun in the first twenty years of his life, "One day, Tim Seeing that he didn't like it, I snatched his pants. I lent him my pants. He was a little taller than me, but his legs were much longer. So after wearing them, the effect was just like yours, with the trousers hanging on the ankles .”

Adam laughed through his tears, "Is that the college student?"

"Well, it's him."

"Have you found out which university he is from?"

"Maybe it's a university in the south, I don't know."

"You should ask him."

Michael stuffed a few awards into his backpack, "I pissed him off, and he hasn't talked to me since then."

"He's a prisoner," Adam said curiously. "How dare he get angry with you?"

"College students." Michael found several blank notebooks. "I was a high school student at that time. College students look at high school students like they see crying babies, you know."

Michael's graduation photo was very silly. Mary washed one for him and put it in a photo frame. She said excitedly that when Michael has his own office, he must put his graduation photo on the desk.Michael lay at home for a few days, and it seemed like he wasted his college degree by continuing to raise cattle.It is a good choice to go to a company in the city to work. People are needed everywhere, and the salary is reasonable.Michael circled several job advertisements in the newspaper, and when he was about to consult, he received an unexpected letter.

"Little German" Oliver stayed in the army and did not return to the United States to inherit his grandfather's small workshop. "The salary is good," he explained. "Besides, I think the weather in Europe is quite comfortable... I want to stay a few more years."

Oliver's unit was stationed in southern Germany, and would write several letters to Michael and his old buddies a year, complaining about this, complaining about that, complaining about the bad brown bread. "Dear old Mike," Oliver wrote, "figure you're about to graduate from college. You're a smart guy, sure got your diploma! Congratulations in advance! I'm writing to congratulate you on your College student, on the other hand, I want to tell you that yesterday, I ran into a man on the street. I was out on errands, and as I was walking, I raised my head, hey! Guess who I saw?"

"Damn, who else can you meet... meet Hitler?" Michael smiled, and continued to read, "We don't know many people in Germany, I don't know if this is the last one--Quinnessy (That's the name, not 'King', I know you're learning German well now)! He's well dressed, the shirts are much better than mine. He still looks the same cold, with his nostrils up, probably after the war It didn't hurt. I stared at him for a long time, and he ignored me. He may have forgotten me, or he may have recognized me, but he didn't want to talk to me. Fortunately, I told Tim not to keep picking on him... I'll just say, you shouldn't have given him that much chocolate and coffee, he's definitely not the type of guy to be thankful for that, absolutely."