“It’s different with you,” said Swenson. “I keep thinking of Pete— and Dora.”
“What for? She said you could go, didn’t she? The Commissioner gave her that talk on patriotism and how you’d be a hero and set for life once you got back, and she said you could go. You didn’t sneak out the way Adams did.”
“Adams is different. That wife of his should have been shot when she was born. Some women can make hell for a guy can’t they? She didn’t want him to go—but she’d probably rather he didn’t come back if she can get his settlement pay.”
“What’s your kick, then? Dora wants you back, doesn’t she?”
Swenson sighed. “I never treated her right.”
“You turned over your pay, it seems to me. I wouldn’t do that for any woman. Money for value received, not a cent more.”
“Money isn’t it. I get to thinking out here. A woman likes company. A kid needs his father. What am I doing ’way out here?”
“Getting set to go home.”
“Ah-h, you don’t understand.”