” Don’t think so?” laughed Mary.

” Well it is.”

” Well thank you kindly, sir.”

” The third novel will be set, at least most of it, after the war is over, and will be called, Across the River and into the Trees, and will be about an American general who returns to the places he fought. I want to base him on Buck. Some of the novel will be set here, with many of the characters appearing in all three books, and in Italy. The general, I’m going to call him Cantwell, revisits the place where he was seriously injured in nineteen eighteen. Mary, as soon as this war is over we must go to Italy where I can show you all the sites.”

” I would love that, darling.”

” We’ll go there on honeymoon, base ourselves first in Venice, then Rome, then to Milan.”

” Excuse me, sir, ma’am.”

The tall dark haired young man (dressed in the uniform of a sergeant of the American Army with the insignia of the CIC on his sleeve tops) was standing just beyond the small privet hedge that separated the cafe from the pavement. Ernest Hemingway, his train of thought broken, stared hard at the young man, who now looked rather worried.

” Yes? What can I do for you?” asked Hemingway.

” I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but I just had to take the chance and speak to you. My name is Jerome D. Salinger, and I’m a writer. I admire your work greatly and wondered if you might take a look at some of mine? I shall of course understand if you tell me to get lost.”

Hemingway roared with laughter.

” Do you drink champagne, Jerome?”

” When necessary.”

” Well, its necessary young man, come and join us.”

As Salinger stepped over the privet hedge, shook hands with Mary, and sat, Hemingway went to the cafe door and called.

“Jacques?”

” Monsieur?”

” Bring more champagne.”

” Oui, monsieur.”