Pages 84 - 105 Summary and Analysis

The local canteen has a store, but usually there is nothing to buy. On the occasions there are goods to buy, long lines form and it may take hours to get to the front. In fact, line-ups describe much of the evacuees' daily life, be it for meals, mail, the bathroom, or laundry.

Motion pictures are shown weekly in the grandstand, at eight o' clock. Though the screen could barely be seen at that time, since it was still daylight, Mine and the others enjoyed "movie time," which always played to a packed house.

After a while, new mess halls open, and residents are asked to bring their own plates and silverware, as well as to wash them after the meal was complete. Meal time is nearly always pandemonium; table manners are forgotten and mothers have no control of...