In Dresden, life goes on in a civilized fashion: streetcars run, telephones work, and electrical power for lighting is functional. Although air raid sirens go off every day and the people go into their cellars, the planes overhead are always headed for other targets.
A magnificent city, the loveliest the Americans have ever seen, Dresden is the only large German city exempt from Allied bombing. The trip to Dresden takes only two hours. Billy wears a pair of silver boots he has found, and draped around him like a toga are some azure curtains taken from the Englishmen's compound his hands are wrapped in the tiny, fur-collared coat that he carries like a muff.Īt the railroad yard, the Americans board four boxcars. The American prisoners march out of the compound headed for Dresden, with Edgar Derby and Billy at the head of the column. In Dresden, they need not worry about being bombed. Informing the Americans that they will be leaving the prison camp that very afternoon for Dresden, the English officer describes Dresden as an open city: It is undefended and contains no war industries or troop concentrations. The officer reproaches them for their apparent lack of survival instincts and tells them it is important that they take pride in their appearance. Having left the POW hospital, he listens as an English officer lectures the Americans on personal hygiene. Billy Pilgrim is dead.īilly time travels to 1945 Germany. As Billy leaves the stage, a sniper fires at him from the press box. He closes his speech with a message that death is not eternal. As he lectures to the large crowd, he predicts his death - within an hour - revealing Lazzaro's promise to kill him. The tape recorder's message is: "I, Billy Pilgrim, will die, have died, and always will die on February thirteenth, 1976." Billy says that at the time of his death, he will be speaking at an engagement in Chicago on the nature of time and flying saucers. Billy has seen his death many times and has described it on a tape recorder he keeps in a safe deposit box. He tells Billy to enjoy life while he can.Īs a time traveler, Billy knows that Lazzaro's threat will come to pass. He also divulges a promise he made to Weary - he will kill Billy. Lazzaro explains that he holds Billy responsible for the death of Roland Weary. Both Paul Lazzaro and Edgar Derby are nearby. Billy wakes up in the prison camp hospital.
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