Impulsively, Ko (ever the exhibitionist) decides one day that if the Wakatsuki clan must return to the world, they will do so in style. Purchasing a "midnight blue Nash sedan" in Lone Pine, he restores his self-esteem by repatriating his family his way — even if it means making three trips for family members and belongings over the 225 miles from Owens Valley to Long Beach. To the surprise of Jeanne and her mother, the feared predictions of racism prove untrue. Like refugees, the Wakatsukis drop their fears of ostracism and turn to the pressing need for housing, which consists of scraps and oddments — "trailer camps, Quonset huts, back rooms of private homes, church social halls, anywhere they could fit."
Again, Quakers help them; this time, they locate an apartment in Cabrillo Homes, a government-built project in west Long Beach. Mama collects her kitchenware and silver from former neighbors in Boyle Heights; however, the warehouse which stored their furniture and appliances has been "unaccountably 'robbed."' Without essentials, including Ko's boats, the family "[starts] over from economic zero." Reflecting on her father's losses, Jeanne, sensitive to the male achievement drive, labels them "another snip of the castrator's scissors." While Ko pursues idealistic plans of creating a Japanese housing project, Mama pragmatically applies her $500 in savings to current needs and returns to fish cannery employment.
