She did not know what was happening to her. Perhaps she managed to sleep, although there was no certainty. She understood that she was no longer walking, but she could not figure out whether she was sitting or standing. One thing was no doubt: the sun was rising over the endless expanse of sand dunes. Even hunger and thirst didn't matter. Only sky and sand were real.

“Amelia,” she said, not knowing why. Only after a lot of time she will be able to remember that this is her name. Clothes hung on her shreds. She began to recall something. Screams echoed again in their ears, echoing through the fortress. For some reason nobody pursued her. Jean pleaded with them, and they calmed down. Now only sand and sky were important.

In memory remained one fortress. Amelia now had no past or future.

After some time, she saw a caravan. To understand that this is a caravan, she had to squint for a long time. While she realized what was happening, the caravan almost disappeared from sight. It was a string of camels and four or five drivers in black. She rushed for the caravan, not knowing why. Wrapped in a black tall driver, he calmly looked at her.

- Take me with you! She shouted in French, for some reason deciding that she would be understood. She did not know where she learned this language. He appeared in her head from the void. If so, then she is French.

The driver indicated with a gesture that he did not understand. She pointed to the caravan. The driver looked at her for a long time, then shrugged his shoulders, pointed his finger at the camel, and helped her to settle on the saddle. The smell of the animal had a soothing effect on her. Behind her, she felt some bales covered with blankets. Remembering her hunger, she found a bundle of grass under a blanket, mixed with flowers and brought it to her face to smell. The driver took the flowers from her, slapped his hand and hid the bunch under the covers. His rebuke was uttered in a completely unfamiliar language.

Apparently, the flowers were of some value. The driver continued to blame her, but in response she raised her eyes to the sky and for some reason said:

- Amelia.

The driver waited hopelessly and led the camel to the dunes. The woman closed her eyes and sank into oblivion.

She woke up from the sun, peering out the window. She did not know how long she slept. She was in a small room, on a mat in the middle of the bare floor. The walls were covered with embroidered fabric. She was wearing black clothes, like caravan drivers. She stuck her hand under the black matter and found that no one encroached on her European clothes. Only the chest was firmly rewound with a black rag over the shirt. She stretched out on the mat with relief and fell asleep again.

She was woken by a knock at the door. She continued to lie, not answering a knock. In the end, the stranger behind the door tired of knocking. Silence reigned.

She felt that she was going to die of hunger. However, she could not move.

Suddenly she remembered that her name was Amelia. Her father called her "Amy", the rest - her full name. Other memories were too vague. The taste of the cake, the smell of skin in a new car, the voice of President Truman on the radio, reports of nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Husky swearing in French, stranger breath of others, sharp pain. Then everything disappeared, leaving only the dream and the body, overwhelmed by sleep. Scratching her head under the turban, she was surprised that she had such short hair. Previously, they too were not long, but not to that extent. At first she panicked, then she became curious as to why she was cut.

They knocked again at the door, but did not enter without receiving a reply. After ages, a girl with a half-closed face came in without knocking. Helpfully bent over, she placed a tray of food in front of Amelia. Amelia remembered that she was starving to death.

She raised the mask from her mouth over her eyes.The hunger was so violent that she did not take care to fix the mask. Seeing nothing, she stuffed her mouth with coarse bread and cereal, smelling of smoke, acting with her hands. She was not well, but she continued to saturate, washing down the food with water from a metal mug. The water had a rotten taste. She was also offered tea, but now she didn’t need such delights.

All the time while Amelia was eating, the girl did not take her eyes off her, kneeling next to her. Amelia remembered that she had been afraid all her life when others had watched her eat. For this, as well as for a number of other reasons, she was so thin. This memory did not concern her, as if she were in a movie.

Having filled her stomach, she again fell on the mat, without removing the mask from her eyes. The orgy of gluttony deprived her of her last strength. The girl grabbed a rag and moistened it with water from a jug. Taking Amelia's hands, she began to wipe the sticking grains and bread crumbs off them. Having dealt with her hands, she took up her face. Special attention was paid to the mouth. The mask still remained in front of his eyes, his mouth was not covered. Amelia didn’t even have the strength to take off her mask to get her eyesight. From under the mask, she saw the girl's chin and her slightly open mouth. Then the girl slid the bandage a bit and looked Amelie in the eyes. Fear filled Amelia, and the girl, noticing this, returned her mask to its former place. Clearing food from her mouth and chin, she took her throat. Amelia was pleased to feel a wet cloth gliding across her face and neck. A little more - and it embraced an inappropriate desire under the circumstances. It seems that she has not experienced anything like this for more than a month, except for the French soldier in the fort ...

Memory refused to obey. The woman took possession of all her senses. Suddenly a woman came to mind, preceding her last lover ... However, that woman was a school teacher, and Amelia was ashamed to go too far with her. Now she, without controlling her actions, kissed an unfamiliar woman through a veil, feeling the warmth of her lips and the suppleness of her tongue. The woman replied to Amelia with a no less passionate kiss. Then she removed the veil from her face. Amelia never gained sight, but it only made it more pleasant to pull the woman's hot lips into her mouth and take her slippery tongue. Amelia pulled her to her. The woman seemed to be waiting for this.

Slowly and impassively she began to untie her shoelaces, opening her body slightly. Taking Amelia's hand, she laid it on her chest. Amelia was again overcome with fear, although she did not understand what she was afraid of. Is this behavior dangerous? She squeezed the woman’s breasts and began to caress her, feeling her nipple hardening every second. Lying in the dark, she fainted and no longer imagined what a breast and nipple are. The thin fingers of the woman were on her neck, she pulled her with her. Amelia's lips closed around her nipple.

She didn’t know how long the nipple had left her mouth. Lust gradually subsided. She still didn’t want to let the woman out of her arms, but lust was replaced by aching all over her body, and now it was quite simple to suck a woman’s breasts and let her stroke her head. Then the woman settled down next to her and, running her breasts over her lips, began to kiss her, slowly crawling her hand under her clothes. Amelia was in panic. Not knowing what she was afraid of, she grabbed the woman by the hand and frantically shook her head.

- No, no, I do not want! - At the same time she was aware that she was telling a lie.

The woman did not understand and did not stop messing around with Amelia's clothes. Trying to convince her, she slightly stuck out her tongue. Amelia arched in a voluptuous convulsion, but the next second shook her head even more fiercely and with an imperious gesture told the stranger to leave.

The woman busily cleaned up her clothes, took the tray and left. Amelia was left lying there with tears in her eyes.She did not remember exactly the requirements of the refined New York society, which did not allow two women to make love, but she firmly knew that she could not allow this to happen.

Amelia was half-forgotten. She had already begun to forget about the woman, but on top of her will she was rolling all the time ...