She was talking again, and actually smiling. "You look distinguished in a beard!"
He laughed, and saw the nearby trainees pick up the forgotten sound. He took her lips back to his own and heard the shuffling feet slow down all around them. And the fear was gone.
"Let's go to the excavation," he said. "We'll sit down at the bottom in privacy and talk and laugh. We're free, Adele, and the rest doesn't matter now."
He put his arm around her waist and they strolled against the pattern, the rigid walkers parting before them. When they reached the huge pit he kicked at the OFF LIMITS sign and was surprised at how easily it fell. Then he took her hand and moved down the steep, sandy slope.
It wasn't until Adele moaned and closed her eyes tightly that he saw that the bottom of the pit was covered with stones—and clean white bones. The blood pounded in his temples as he stared at the piled skeletons and chemical stained earth. And the few hours of peace was no longer enough.
Adele helped him pick up stones, until his hands and her cradled arms could hold no more. Bulbs, at least, could be broken.
Up they climbed, and when they reached the pavement there were many trainees shuffling slowly past the spot where the sign lay.
He threw the first stone at a detector bulb while still some distance from it, and his ruined eyes failed him. But the next time he stood directly beneath it and the shattering of glass seemed as loud as the atomic blast had been. Down the street they went, smashing bulb after bulb, retrieving their missiles so as to have enough to last. And all the trainees moved slowly behind them, on up to the last bulb in front of the Administration Building.
