Summary

Ciro writes his brother, Eduardo, from the front telling him he hopes to be in Rome for his induction into the priesthood. The stress of warfare affects people in different ways. In Ciro's case, stress registers in his periods of utter blankness when he can't remember whether the war is over and when he obsesses over and fantasizes about death and how he would be a willing martyr to protect his fellow soldiers. It seems to him there is no coherent plan for the war and that his unit spends as much time burying the dead as fighting the enemy.

In New York, Enza and Vito are at an after-hours party for Caruso at the Met when he takes her for a ride on an outside elevator to the heights over Manhattan where the lights of the city seem like stars in...