Return To Wysokie Litewskie Sometime late in the war, perhaps in 1917, Dorothy returned to Wysokie after an extended stay with her Aunt Esther and Uncle Tolle in Pruzhany.
Dorothy alludes to her perhaps precocious pubescence --she would have been about 10 years old at the time -- and the maturing of her girl friends. On the other hand, she finds her vivacious, energetic mother now worn-down, cynical, and impoverished; the long war had taken its toll on her and her community. Next, perhaps misplacing a memory of more prosperous times, Dorothy describes the preparation of chicken in the home kitchen, a delicacy in lean times, and a rich harvest of vegetables and fruits in the summers of good years.
The war was not yet over. Germans occupied the town. Dorothy recounts a terrifying encounter with a German army soldier upset over a lost package. Current war news: the Germans seemed to be losing -- and then a revolution occured in Russia. The Germans ordered forced labor of the town's young men.
