章節 19: Chapter 19

Yanube City had grown considerably since I’d been here last. That would have been in ‘61 shortly before Billy died. The fort, which had been contained within a tall wooden stockade, now sat at the northern edge of town without a palisade in sight. The post’s buildings, all single-storied except for the headquarters, were drawn up in rows, almost as if in parade formation.

The older portions of the thirty-year-old military post were log and sod structures. The newer ones appeared to be hand-sawn lumber painted a gray color. It was a sandy, dusty place, but the groundskeeper had coaxed a growth of green grass directly in front of the headquarters. A row of sickly elms around the edges of the grass field battled the elements for survival—with the eventual outcome still in doubt. The scarcity of uniformed soldiers was quite noticeable.