Men in dark blue coats slouched out of several doorways, others stood in groups, some were cleaning their thick glasses. They all wore American Legion caps. They smiled at a few youths who skipped along with physics books under their arms. Some of these men in blue coats and Legion hats were marching around. Vag decided that it was an American Legion Convention.

The convention was kind of quiet, he thought, remembering the way the boys acted when they were all in Boston before. They seemed to be more interested in their marching, too. There weren't any stunts, except a few of the boys were standing in one part of the Yard in their gray flannel underwear, waving their arms.

After a while women started coming out of the nursery in the northern corner of the Yard, pushing baby carriages. Hundreds of women were pushing baby carriages back and forth in front of Memorial Church. Then a bugle sounded and all the Legionnaires rushed out to the women. Obviously these were family groups.

This wasn't like an American Legion convention. Then Vag noticed that none of the Legion caps had state insignia on them. They were all alike. Vag remembered that before he went away for the weekend the Yard had been full of men in khaki summer suits. He went closer to the crowd. It was still the Navy, he decided; they all had southern accents.