Tashkent “bread- city”

1 0. Serezhka and Mishka walk through the crowded, filthy station. People are openly relieving themselves. Foul-smelling filth is everywhere. Peasants, who have been milling around for weeks in hopes of catching a train, are covered with lice.

Mishka sees an old man, on the verge of death, lying on the ground and clutching a crust of bread to his chest. Mishka contrives to steal the dying man's bread.

Just then, a commotion erupts. A fancily dressed lady with golden teeth is tossing small pieces of bread to the ground for the amusement she gets in watching the frenzied crowd of children fight for the crumbs. Mishka, pushing and shoving, manages to snatch five of the tossed pieces. His main opponent in the struggle is a boy named Vanka.

Mishka gives two pieces of the bread to Serezhka and keeps three for himself, because he is bigger. Serezhka is still wracked with hunger.

11. That night it rains. Serezhka is feverish and suffering from diarrhea. Mishka wishes he hadn't brought Serezhka along on the trip, but he realizes that he can't abandon his friend.

Mishka goes out onto the platform. He runs into Vanka and Vanka's cohort, Petka. The three of them end of fighting.

12. At noon another train arrives. Mishka manages to find himself a spot on it. But--although he is sorely tempted--he can't bring himself to abandon the sick Serezhka. Cursing his luck, Mishka gets off the train.

He finds a dirty potato peel lying in the mud and eats it. He begs for food from the passengers on the train, but no one is kind.

In hunger and despair, feeling alone and without hope, Mishka sits down on the ground. Unexpectedly, a kind-eyed nurse approaches and asks what the problem is. Mishka spills his guts to the nurse, telling her everything, even about Serezhka's illness.

The nurse goes to examine Serezhka and pronounces that he has typhus.

The train includes a car full of sick patients. The nurse says she will take Serezhka to a hospital at the next station. She agrees to let Mishka ride along in a corner. Mishka rejoices that there are still kind people in the world.

On the train, Mishka falls into a deep, much-needed sleep.

13. At the next station, Serezhka is admitted to the hospital, and Mishka signs for him. They agree that Mishka will go on to Tashkent, get the grain, and return to pick up the hopefully cured Serezhka on the way back home. Mishka gives Serezhka back the screw. But as he is taken into the hospital building, Serezhka forgets the screw on the porch. Mishka picks it up again.