JOHNNYGOTHISGUN英文.docVIP

JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo published in 1939 He shot up through cool waters wondering whether hed ever make the surface or not. That was a lot of guff about people sinking three times and then drowning. Hed been rising and sinking for days weeks months, who could tell? But he hadnt drowned. As he came to the surface, each time he fainted into reality and as he went down again, he fainted into nothingness. Long slow faints, all of them while he struggled for air and life. He was fighting too hard and he knew it. A man cant fight always. If hes drowning or suffocating, hes got to be smart and hold back some of his strength for the last, the final, the death struggle. He lay back quietly, because he was no fool. If you lie back you can float. He used to float a lot when he was a kid. He knew how to do it. His last strength going into that fight when all he had to do was float. What a fool. They were working on him. It took him a little while to understand this, because he couldnt hear them. Then he remembered that he was deaf. It was funny to lie there and have people in the room who were touching you, watching you, doctoring you, and yet, not within hearing distance. The bandages were still all over his head so he couldnt see them either. He only knew that way out there in the darkness beyond the reach of his ears people were working over him and trying to help him. They were taking part of his bandages off. He could feel the coolness, the sudden drying of sweat on his left side. They were working on his arm. He felt the pinch of a sharp little instrument grabbing something and getting a bit of his skin with each grab. He didnt jump. He simply lay there because he had to save his strength. He tried to figure out why they were pinching him. After each pinch there was a little pull in the flesh of his upper arm and an unpleasant point of heat like friction. The pulling kept on in short little jerks with his skin getting hot each time. It hurt. He wished the