Summary

In Chapter 9, it is present day when Otto stops at several co-ops on his way home and buys nearly two hundred issues of The Canadian National, a newspaper. When he gets home, he clips Etta's photo from each one and tries to think of some useful ways to get ride of the stacks of newspapers now in his house. Otto adopts a guinea pig that he names Oats and shreds some of the newspapers for her cage.

In the past, Otto had written a letter to Etta and enclosed a photo of himself in his army uniform, and Etta sent him a photo of herself in return. Otto looked at Etta's photo in between bouts of vomiting on the ship sailing overseas. Seven days after leaving for war, Otto's hair had turned completely white. At the same time, Otto's sister, Winnie, decided that...