My Life Summarized in a Dialogue

I wished Nonong would out his arms around me and kiss my mouth and always love me, but I knew that if he even as much as touched my hand I would slap him hard on the mouth and kick him on the shin and never speak to him again. He stood silently beside me and put his lean arms on the window sill, I could see the veins taut on them. Behind us, the darkness was absolute and complete.

What are you going to be after the war, Nonong?
Oh... a writer, I guess, or a bum or something.
Me, I'm going to buy a house on top of a hill and live there all my life alone.
Suppose someone falls in love with you?
Who's going to fall in love with me, silly?

excerpt from People in the War by Gilda Cordero-Fernando