Chapter 20, 21, and Part Two, Chapter 22 Summary

As Chapter 20 begins, Oleg is walking on the grounds of the hospital, thinking of Ush-Terek, where he had been exiled and was living before the tumor appeared. He was assigned to this wild, empty land forever by the government, but instead of hating it and being bitter, he loved the land. He did not marry, even though there were women living there. He felt he needed to wait. Oleg thinks also of the corruption in his small exile town, where government programs were used only for the privileged, and the people all worked around the regulations. The poor were still poor, the rich and politically connected still did better than everyone else. Oleg feels exile is wonderful, compared to the prison camps.

Oleg thinks of the Kadmins, an older couple who befriended him, and how...