Ida gets to go home for one week before she has to report for duty. She travels by train from Florida to Louisiana. On the train, she eats in the whites only dining car, then goes into the bathroom under the door marked “Coloreds.” Her plan is to “leave the train as a colored girl” (191). In the bathroom, she changes clothes and hides inside until it is time to get off the train.

Grandy picks Ida up at the train station. As he drives them home, Ida is sad that Thomas won’t be home because it doesn’t feel like home without all of them there. When they arrive at home, Ida hears a voice and finds Thomas bandaged up and lying in a bed in the parlor. After dinner, Thomas tells Ida that he and some other men were captured by the Japanese and tortured. Finally, they heard American planes overhead and were rescued. After he finishes his story,Thomas reminds Ida that he wanted her to stay home and look after the family. Ida tells Thomas: “[I]t was just so hard, sitting on my hands, waiting for you to come home.