The protagonist in this story is a lonely and seriously ill intellectual who goes for a walk in his hometown and reminisces about his past at home and in different parts of the world while serving in the air force in the early 1950's. His mind jumps from one time and place to another, but mainly is centered around three women: Nadine, his intellectual wife; Alma, a religious lesbian, and Bridgitta, a German woman who uttered some words that have haunted...