Summary

This chapter marks a new section of the novel, which takes place at Camp Patience in Iuka, Mississippi, in 2081, six years after the Chestnut family’s initial arrival at the camp. The camp is enclosed and the “Blue” country of Tennessee lies not far off, but those who attempt to escape to the North are shot by Blue militia. South Carolinian refugees live permanently in Camp Patience, because their home state is quarantined after being infected by a virus.

In the Chestnut’s tent, Martina and her neighbor, Lara, talk about their work and their clients. Martina writes letters, ranging from requests, appeals, articles, eulogies, and love letters. Although it gives her a sense of purpose and gives her customers a sense of hope, her letters are most often unsuccessful and “doomed to fail” (78). A teenager, Lenny, enters the tent with some money for...