Sergeant Mandella, 2007-2024 A.D., Chapter 8 Summary

After reeling in the flurry of welcome-home dinners and honorary receptions with important military and political personnel, Mandella heads to his mother's house. She is almost twenty years older than she was when he last saw her and his father is dead. She keeps her door chained shut at all times and never leaves her apartment without a bodyguard. Stopping at a food store on the way home is a disorienting experience for Mandella due to the universal use of ration books. While his mother prepares dinner, he looks in the newspaper for the Help Wanted section. He is dismayed when his mother explains that it has been at least ten years since there has been a Help Wanted section because the government assigns jobs based on need. She tells him that although...