Five Little Indians

The story returns to Kenny, who is now a migrant worker at an apple orchard in Washington State. He arrives late for work one day because of a hangover, and the foreman threatens to dock his pay. Out in the orchard, Kenny runs into someone he knew at the Mission as a child. His name is Wilfred. The two childhood friends catch up on the years they spent apart. They also recall their raids on the Mission kitchen to steal some of the rich foods that the staff hoarded while the children were fed meager rations. Kenny thinks, “He was happy to share their tricky survival memories; it was the other ones, the ones that slipped in through the silences, that he was relieved to lose in his usual solitude” (89). Secretly, Kenny remembers the beatings they all received from Father Levesque and the sexual abuse from a staff member called Brother.

Wilfred suggests that they pick two extra bins of apples to offset the shortage in Kenny’s pay. However, at the end of the day, the foreman refuses to give them their bonus even though Kenny’s work record has been exemplary up until that point. Kenny becomes enraged and attacks the boss.