Atdtda34: Nobody knows, 964-965

[Paul Nightingale]

The previous section reports what must be ongoing conversations about the
war. There was a clear contrast between 'a bright future ahead' and the war
that Reef/Yashmeen/Ljubica are, evidently, following; this point is
reiterated in the opening line of this section, dialogue that puts the
protagonists at the centre of the action (where, previously, they were
marginal to it). Here, their subjective outlook ('what I know where I am,
now') is at odds with a more generalised account; until the final paragraph
on 965, where people are replaced by armies, the labels that confirm the
status of this or that unit, there is a refusal to allow an authoritative
narrative to simply tell the war-story.

Moreover, 'the horizon of the unimaginable' (964) perhaps reminds us of both
'the storm of fearful hearsay' (963) and Reef's inability 'to express his
feelings to Cyprian' (961). The way the two men communicate, or don't, is
tied to the way the war is constructed as something that is known about but
elusive.

Top of 965, Reef/Yashmeen/Ljubica intrude on the 'major battle' that is
announced here: what we see described are 'processions across the plains
...' etc, while the 'Krupps guns thumping in the distance' are as close as
we get to military action. The 'temporary packs' of dogs stand in for armies
similarly concerned to take advantage of the situation: like Reef in the
previous section, they are scavengers, of course.