"You're no cry baby kid, you've got a right to cry, and cry a helluva lot." He put a finger under her chin, raised her face, and kissed her lightly. "Hell! I haven't seen a girl in three years." She laughed.
"What about you, Romeo," she said. "How did the war affect your life?" He sort of grinned, and leaned back against the tree, pulling her with him.
"You know, I think it affected my life for the better. If it weren't for the war, I night not have met you. It seems that I'm falling in love with you already."
Dianne frowned. "Don't say that.... Don't say that you wanted the war, think of the people that died ... your folks ... mine."
"It was coming, I didn't realize then, but it had to come. Man was too far apart from Nature and Nature wanted him back...."
"That's silly."
"No, Dianne, no, it's not silly. Man lived in his concrete skyscraper, above the earth ... complex, not simple. He lost his sense of good and decency; he depended upon someone else for his food and well being. He became soft. It had to come."
"Maybe you're right Clark, maybe," Dianne whispered, nestling close to him warmly.
"I know I am," he said. He was aware of her in the crook of his arm, and, he added, almost too softly to be heard, "I know."
"How about when you were little?" she softly enquired.