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Then he would relinquish that approach and try to discern the variations that might arise from moving another piece
Yet it was hopelessWith almost frightening skill, Hearn felt himself being harassed, then threatened, then strangled by the advance of the General's pawnsHearn had been on his college chess team, and at different periods in his life he had been tremendously interested in the gameHe was a good enough player to realize how very good the General was, good enough to understand something of a man's nature by the style in which he played, and the General had been brilliant in his conception, and coldly efficient in extracting every possible advantage from the slight superiority he had had at the beginningHearn conceded on the twenty-fifth move after losing a knight and a pawn in exchange for two pawns, and sat back in his chair fatiguedThe game had caught him, piqued his interest, and he felt a sullen desire to play again
"You're not bad," the General said
"I'm fair," Hearn mutteredame was over, he was aware once more of the jungle sounds outside the tent
The General was putting the pieces back in the box, seeming to cherish each one with his fingertips before placing it in its green plush container"This is really my game, RobertIf I have a single passion, it's chess
What did the General want of him? Hearn felt suddenly badgered; their discussion, white leather chanel handbag this game, seemed to follow out of some inexorable want behind the well-groomed and unresponsive features of the GeneralAn inexplicable mood caught Hearn, and his sense of oppression returned, magnified a littleThe air in the tent seemed heavier somehow
"Chess," Cummings stated, "is inexhaustibleWhat a concentration of life it is really
Hearn's sullenness was increasing"I don't think so," he said, listening to the accents of his own clear sharp voice with something like distaste"The thing about chess that used to intrigue me, and ended by being just boring, is that there's nothing remotely like it in life
"Just what do you think warfare is essentially?"
They were off againHearn wanted to avoid a discussion this time, he was weary of being maneuvered by the GeneralFor an instant he felt like striking the General, seeing the gray hair suddenly messed, the General's mouth leaking bloodThe impulse was powerful and momentaryWhen it left, he felt merely badgered again"I don't know, but warfare certainly isn't chessYou might make a case for the Navy, where it's all maneuvering on open flat surfaces with different units of fire power, where it's all Force, Space and Time, but war is like a bloody football gameYou start off with a play and it never quite works out as you figured it would
"It's more complicated, but it comes to the same thing
Hearn slapped his cheap replica rolex thigh with sudden exasperation"By God, there're more pages to the book than you've readYou take a squad of men or a company of men -- what the hell do you know about what goes on in their heads? Sometimes I wonder how you can have the responsibility of sending them out on somethingDoesn't it ever drive you crazy?"
"That's where you're always missing the boat, RobertIn the Army the idea of individual personality is just a hindranceSure, there are differences among men in any particular Army unit, but they invariably cancel each other out, and what you're left with is a value ratingSuch and such a company is good or poor, effective or ineffective for such or such a missionI work with grosser techniques, common denominator techniques
"You're up so -bleep- high you don't see anything at allThe moral calculus on anything is too involved ever to be able decently to make a decision
"Nevertheless, you make the decisions and they work out or they don't
There was something unclean about having a conversation like this, while somewhere out on the front a man might be rigid with terror in his foxholeHearn's voice was a little shrill as if that terror were somehow communicated to him"How do you work out something like this? You have men who have been away from America for a year and a halfHow can you calculate whether it's better so many be killed and the rest get home chanel purse white faster, or they all stay over here, and go to pot, and have their wives cheat on themHow do you tot up something like that?"
"The answer is, I don't concern myself with that The General ticked his beard again with his fingernailHe spoke after a little hesitation"What's the matter, Hearn? I didn't know you were married
"Leave a girl behind, get a Dear John?"
"No, there're no loose ends in back of me
"Then why all this concern about women 'cheating'? It's in their nature to do that
Hearn grinned with a sudden relish, a little amazed at his own audacity"What's the matter, sir, speaking from personal experience?" He remembered immediately afterward that the General was married, apparently a piece of minor information, for the General had never spoken about it, and he had learned it from some other officerHe regretted the statement he had just made, however
"Maybe from personal experience, maybe," the General saidHis voice changed abruptly"I'd like you to remember, Robert, that every liberty you take is with my sufferanceI think you went a little too far
Hearn was silent, watching the General's face, which was remoteHis eyes had contracted, looked almost as if they were supporting something about ten inches from his faceTwo spots of white had formed beneath his lower lip, almost directly under the corners of his mouth
"The truth is, Robert, my wife is prada bags sales a -bleep-
"She's done just about everything she could to humiliate me
Hearn was amazed, and then revoltedThat self-pity had appeared again in Cummings's voiceYou didn't go around telling things like that, at least not in that tone of voiceApparently, there was the General and there was the General"Well, I'm sorry, sir," he mumbled at last
The Coleman lantern was dying, and its flickers threw long shifting diagonals of light through the tent"Are you, Robert, are you really? Does anything ever touch you?" For that single instant the General's voice was nakedBut he extended his arm and adjusted the lantern again"You know you're really inhuman," the General said
"You never grant a thing, do you?"
Was that what he meant? Hearn stared into his eyes, which were luminous at the moment, almost beseechingHe had an intuition that if he remained motionless long enough the General would slowly extend his arm, touch his knee perhapsNo, that was ridiculous
But Hearn stood up with a sudden agitated motion, and walked a few steps to the other end of the tent, where he stood motionless for a moment, staring at the General's cotNo, get away from there, before Cummings grabbed that interpretationHe wheeled around, and looked at the General who had not moved, had sat like a large and petrified bird, waitingwaiting for what must be indefinable
"I don't know what you mean, rolex uk Gen
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