This was a so-called civilized European country, and they were just rounding up people from their homes, from the streets, and slinging them in holes barely fit for animals. They held them in three boats, four forts, and some of the local cinemas without explanation. In all, about twenty thousand people were rounded up, just to tidy the streets for Pétain’s visit. “So where were you when all this was going on?” she says. I sway on my feet as I stand, the breath rasping in my throat. The sun seems to flare and arc above the horizon, luminous as phosphorus. I can hardly see her, the light’s a halo around her, and I cover my eyes. “Gabriel, I said, where were you?” She walks at my side as I stagger along the beach. “With Annie, of course. When you are young, and in love, you steal time together whenever and however you can.” * * * I had arranged a rendezvous with Annie at the public library in the Palais des Arts on place Auguste-Carli. Her parents could hardly object to her studying, and it was somewhere warm and quiet to meet.
