- By nightfall, the guards and the Americans come upon a totally bizarre sight: an inn open for business.
- There are empty beds and tables and chairs enough for everyone.
- The inn is being run by a blind man, his sighted wife, and their two young daughters.
- The family knows that Dresden is gone, that it has been burned to the ground, but they still opened their inn for the day.
- The four guards and hundred American prisoners are their first guests.
- The guards tell the innkeeper that no one else is coming, that they haven't seen anyone alive all day.