Tashkent “bread- city”

14. Mishka spends the day begging unsuccessfully in the market. In the evening, he hears the train whistle. He is tore as to what he should do. Should he hurry straight to the train, or go to the hospital first to say good-bye to Serezhka?

Mishka hurries to the hospital. But the doors are locked, and the guard stops him from crawling into a window.

M ishka dashes to the station. There he learns that he missed the train to Tashkent. Angry, Mishka runs off in the opposite direction. He bumps into a woman, making her spill her bucket. She yells for Mishka to stop. Bystanders assume that Mishka is a fleeing thief, so they apprehend him and hand him over to the militia.

15. Mishka is brought before a Bolshevik Comrade Dunaev at the local Cheka. Mishka spins a bit of a tale. He claims he was traveling with his father and they had tickets and a pass, but they were lost when his father died along the way. He then relates the truth of the incident with the woman by the train station. Dunaev believes Mishka, but says he still must be punished for attempting to board a train without a ticket. He says Mishka will have to gather firewood with some women tomorrow.

16. Mishka spends all day hauling firewood with a group of women. One young girl with bare feet, named Nastenka, collapses from hunger. Everyone feels sorry for her, but they can do nothing to help her.

That evening, Mishka tries to beg food at the train station, but everyone just chases him away angrily and with hateful speech.

Mishka rummages around in the dirt and manages to find a fish bone, which he quickly pops into his mouth.

17. Gnawed with hunger, Mishka considers taking his grandmother's skirts out of his sack and selling them right here to buy something to eat. But he decides to wait until he gets to Tashkent, where he can get plenty of grain for them.

That night, Mishka falls into a deep sleep. In the morning, he awakens with horror: His sack with the skirts has been stolen! And with it, his last hope is gone!

18. Mishka cries for a few hours, then crawls back to the hospital to see Serezhka. The guard rudely tells Mishka to buzz off--there is no Serezhka here, he says...Serezhka's dead!

Starving and full of despair, Mishka lies down. Death hovers over him.

Just then, Comrade Dunaev passes by. He asks Mishka why he's lying down. Mishka says he's afraid or dying, because his mother and family are counting on him.

D unaev takes Mishka to the Cheka headquarters and feeds him a good meal. He then orders a subordinate--Simakov--to deposit Mishka on the next train to Tashkent.

At the train station, Simakov opens a car packed full of muzhiks and orders them to make room for Mishka. The muzhiks aren't happy and try to resist. They must relent, however, when Simakov invokes the authority of the Cheka.