Chapters 14-16 Summary

Early morning is a time of peace, magic, and silvery light in Cannery Row. Cats, dogs, gulls, sea lions, and gophers are afoot, but few humans. One of Flood's girls comes back disheveled from a house call. Lee hauls garbage to the curb. The old Chinaman flap-flaps by. The cannery watchman and Bear Flag bouncer look out. Malloy's tenants snore. "Time stops and examines itself". Two soldiers in the company of two girls leave La Ida, tired, and happy, and walk. The girls are hefty and full-lipped, and dressed in wrinkled, clinging party dresses. They walk hand-in-hand, wearing one another's hats, the length of Cannery Row, down the railroad track, to a tiny beach in front of Hopkins Marine Station. As the sun rises, the girls sit primly in the sand and the soldiers lie down with their heads in the...