Frank claimed he’d already lost his virginity to one of the “fallen women,” a lie so obvious I didn’t bother to dispute it. With more dread than excitement, I felt that I would ultimately have to visit, that there was no way I could avoid it, that I owed it to myself to return to the States a man, that this was the only conceivable way. Frank and I went at least twice to the district for what we decided, after we’d chickened out, was reconnaissance. We were both somber about the whole thing, almost grim, like we were gearing up to fight a battle or submitting ourselves to surgery.
