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78 In the End What Folly In an abandoned elementary school a priest baptizes marines in a makeshift pond brimming with canteen water. Purified, the young soldiers can hope for paradise. Outside, bearded men answer the noon prayer call, rest guns against battered walls, turn to Mecca, bow, hands on knees, before merciful Allah. Prayer-purified, they too wish for paradise. And in the end what folly, (oh God of gods, what folly) takes them all to a sunless, dreamless land? ...

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