- The papers of Aunt Emily's package are piled neatly. Naomi doesn't know if she wants to read them anymore.
- In present time it's Thursday. Aunt Emily and Stephen will be here soon. Obasan is tired, and keeps falling asleep. Naomi is tired too, tired of all the memories that appear because of Aunt Emily's letters.
- Naomi says that the relocation destroyed families that had already been splintered. The Undersecretary of State for External Affairs, Norman Robertson says that the Canadians screwed up the whole Japanese Canadian thing. No duh.
- Families were torn apart. Some people just disappeared. Naomi reads a newspaper article that says repatriating Japanese Canadians were "solemn," and "indifferent." Somehow, we are doubtful.
- When Naomi asks Aunt Emily what she thinks happened to her mother and grandmother. Suddenly, she's lost for words. Instead of talking about that, Aunt Emily tells her about Nakayama-sensei's crusade to keep the community together. He wasn't the only one. All over the country there are people trying to form a Japanese Canadian community.
- Naomi compares all of this effort to create a community to the scratching of chickens. It's useless. They don't do anything. They don't change the past or the future.