"Do you know what killed him?" I asked.
"Some sort of fungus disease of the brain that entered through the wound. He was never fully conscious after he got hit. He didn't rally from the operation but just gradually weakened and died."
"How did you find out?"
"One of the officers who was with him on the mainland wrote to me."
She stopped talking and, in the silence, a dripping tap counted away the seconds. Her eyes were full of tears now.
"The thing that bothers me a whole lot," she said, "he died among strangers, all alone."
"He fought for freedom, Polly," I said. "He had company."
"I'm sorry John," she took my hand again. "I forget other people in my own selfish worries." She wiped away the tears. "Did you lose many men in your unit?"
"Eight killed out of thirty ... and a few more wounded; one died of the bleeding death. We were lucky compared to some of the other Ranger teams I hear."
"We don't know much about these things," she said. "The papers talk of the hidden war in a vague sort of way but nobody has come right out with it yet."
"It won't be long now," I said grimly. "I think we've got them by the short hairs." I picked up an unopened morning paper lying on the table and looked at the headline. "There you are!" I showed it to her. "Revolt Rumored in Russia!"
She looked in silence and then got up. "Let's forget war for today. Let's celebrate your homecoming and the new baby. I'm going to get George right now and we'll all go over to see that baby and Pat and then take off for the rest of the day."
"Suits me fine," I said and followed her out the door.
Six months later it was over. It wasn't much of a revolution. The Russian people had had enough of disease and famine and when the army turned over, almost to a man, to the rebels, the Reds folded up faster than the White Russians had in 1918. The United States was the only major power left in the world, in fact the only large population, since the measlepox and now the bleeding death had decimated much of Asia, Europe and South America, to say nothing of the sterilizing effects of the S-Flu. It would take months or years to eradicate all breeding places of these pests from the earth and when it was over there would be plenty of room for everybody; no more squabbles about territory; no more delusions of world empire; those who were left would be too busy trying to keep running what businesses and factories, ships and planes they already had, without wanting more.
This was a new world, a strange world full of problems. Better that the sorrows of the past be put away and a fresh beginning made.
THE END