{"product_id":"2940013758452","title":"Generals Die in Bed","description":"It is after midnight on payday.  Some of the recruits are beginning\u003cbr\u003eto dribble into the barracks bunk room after a night's carousal\u003cbr\u003edown the line.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Down the line\" in Montreal is Cadieux Street, St. Elizabeth\u003cbr\u003eStreet, La Gauchetière Street, Vitre Street, Craig Street--a square\u003cbr\u003emile of dilapidated, squalid red brick houses with red lights\u003cbr\u003eshining through the transoms, flooding the sidewalks with an\u003cbr\u003einviting, warm glow.  The houses are known by their numbers, 169 or\u003cbr\u003e72 or 184.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome of us are lying in our bunks, uncovered, showing our heavy\u003cbr\u003egrey woolen underwear--regulation Army issue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe heavy odour of stale booze and women is in the air.  A few\u003cbr\u003ejaundiced electric lights burn here and there in the barn-like bunk\u003cbr\u003eroom although it is long after \"lights out\".\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the bunk next to mine lies Anderson, a middle-aged, slightly\u003cbr\u003ebald man.  He comes from somewhere in the backwoods of northern\u003cbr\u003eOntario and enlisted a few weeks ago.  He was a Methodist lay\u003cbr\u003epreacher in civilian life.  He is reading his bible.  The\u003cbr\u003eroistering arrivals annoy him.  The conversation is shouted across\u003cbr\u003ethe bunk room:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"-- -- 'three bucks?' I says.  'What the hell!  D'yuh know there's\u003cbr\u003ea war on?  I don't wantta buy yuh,' I says, 'I only want yuh for\u003cbr\u003eabout twenty minutes.'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is a roar of laughter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"-- -- 'I'm thirsty,' I says.  'Where's the water?'  When she's\u003cbr\u003egone I dips into her pocketbook and sneaks me two bucks.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA skeptical silence greets this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"-- -- yeah, that's what you wish had happened.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ask Brownie, he heard her bellyachin'--dincha, Brownie?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA singing, drunken trio bursts through the door of the bunk room\u003cbr\u003eand for a moment drowns out the controversy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA young lad, not more than seventeen, staggers to the centre of the\u003cbr\u003eroom and retches into the slop-can.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eObscene roars from the bunks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe boy sways.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hold it, Billy, hold it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Missed it, by God!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA howl of delight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe boy staggers back to his bunk.  His face is a greenish yellow\u003cbr\u003eunder the dim lights.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the far corner of the dormitory some of the boys begin to sing a\u003cbr\u003ewar song.  They sing with a mock pathos.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I don't want to die, I don't want to die,\u003cbr\u003e     The bullets they whistle, the cannons they roar,\u003cbr\u003e     I don't want to go up the line any more.\u003cbr\u003e     Take me over the sea, where Heinie he can't get at me;\u003cbr\u003e     Oh, my, I'm too young to die,\u003cbr\u003e     I want to go home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCatcalls and hootings greet the end of the song.  There is a\u003cbr\u003esilence and then the desultory conversation is resumed.  The\u003cbr\u003eremarks are addressed to no one in particular.  They are hurled\u003cbr\u003einto the centre of the room and he who wills may reply.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"-- -- hey, lissen, fellers, don't none of you go down to 184 any\u003cbr\u003emore; they threw one of our men out tonight.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083171905776,"sku":"2940013758452","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013758452_p0.jpg?v=1763589872","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013758452","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}