Elephant Run

Nick recalls living with his mother in Kansas as a boy, and the lightning storms that came through and shook the house. He compares them to the German blitz in his new home in London in 1941. Nick spends time hiding in the subway tunnels during the blitz and is amazed by the nonchalance with which Londoners cope with the bombings: “When the all-clear siren sounded, they walked calmly up the stairs to the street. Some of the people made jokes, others talked about the weather or food rationing [...]” (2). One day, Nick emerges from the tunnels with his housekeeper, Mrs. Knolls, to discover that a bomb had set his entire apartment building on fire. Everything had turned to ash. That night, Nick sleeps on the sofa in his mother's office. The next day, Nick’s mother tells him that he will be moving to Burma to live with his father on a teak plantation in the countryside, where he will be safer. 

Nang, Jackson's foreman, picks Nick up at the airport in Rangoon after many long hours of travel. He and Nang's quiet daughter, Mya, drive for three days into the Burmese jungle to Hawk's Nest, the plantation house.