[Note: The mother in Lagana""s portrait is portrayed by the uncredited Celia Lovsky.]:My mother - a great old lady.They broke the mold when they made her.She died last May.She lived here with me.Had her own suite of rooms - her own bath - everything.Never got over being surprised about my success.Rather than coming on a fund-raising errand (for a benefit dance or pension-fund drive), Bannion demands answers about he murder of Lucy Chapman (the bar-girl that Lagana ordered killed the previous night or morning); Bannion describes it as an "old-fashioned," prohibition-style murder including torture and strangulation.A rural couple""s enduring love overcomes the hostile, destructive forces of the Jazz Age city.The fable is described:This song of the Man and his Wife is of no place and every place; you might hear it anywhere at any time.The inner vault was also protected by state of the art sound and temperature sensors, an overhead air conditioning vent 30 feet above the floor with a laser net, and a pressure-sensitive floor." There will only be minimal artillery support so as not to alert the enemy to a full-scale advance.Dax wishes all of his officers good luck and expresses his confidence in them.Two privates in their quarters talk about their chances of survival and fears, more afraid of getting hurt by high explosives or bayonets than dying.