Cold War. A fighter base called Baden-Soellingen, in the southwest corner of West Germany. Late 1970s.

Church bells ringing all over the place at midnight, Germans going home from church, walking around their villages, having fun, sparkly decorations. Base dead quiet after midnight Mass at the chapel, messes closed, the last drunks shovelled out. No flying. The MP patrol vehicle clearly audible across the parade square.

Base hospital on silent hours routine, with the nurse checking charts and two medics -- a private and a corporal -- playing cribbage in the ready room. A post-op surgery patient drinks tea with the card players as he sits out the four hours to his next dose of pain meds. A croupy baby starts crying, and the private puts down her cards. Five minutes later, the baby is draped over the corporal's shoulder and the private deals another hand. The nurse comes in and lights a cigarette. "Deal me in," she says.

Rinse and repeat till dawn.