Chapter 9 Summary

The children go to the nearby market to look for Mother. They see a woman selling corn who is having trouble with her baby, so Sookan and Inchun offer to watch her baby for her. In return, she gives them each an ear of corn. They do this for three days, eating only corn, and sleeping in a nearby barn. Both children are filthy and covered with mosquito bites, so that they look diseased. A man working at the train station takes pity on them and tells them that he will try to help them. Sookan is tired of waiting, so she and Inchun go to the guardhouse where they last saw Mother. Although she is frightened, Sookan asks the guards what they did with Mother, and the soldiers tell them to come inside. One soldier introduces himself as Dobraski, and he gives...