Going After Cacciato

The platoon marches silently in the dark, with Paul at the rear, moving towards the sea. Paul stops for a moment, and another soldier urges him on. He tries not to think of Billy Boy Watkins dying of fright, of a heart attack, on the battlefield. To avoid thinking, he counts his steps, pretending each step earns him a dollar, and sings in his head.

Paul is determined not to join his fellow soldiers: “The trick would be to keep himself separate” (211). They walk around a village that smells like perfume, and Paul remembers his mother’s perfume bottles, which she used to hide liquor until his father threw the bottles in the incinerator. Paul doesn’t know anyone’s name yet.

After 8,600 steps, the soldiers stop to rest. The soldier with the large round face shares his canteen with Paul and gives him a piece of gum. He whistles tunelessly until Paul asks if he has to. The other soldier talks about his favorite gum, Black Jack; again, Paul asks him to be quiet, scared that the boy is talking too loudly. He’s silent for a while but soon starts whistling again without meaning to. The soldier starts talking about how weird it is; that Doc said Billy Boy was scared to death, and Paul can’t stop laughing.