The school tries to stay open after the moon incident, but the dangerous weather and thunderstorms cause them to close it. People really wanted things to go back to normal, but that was not going to be possible. Once the school shut down, everyone realized that this was not going to happen. (Ch3)
Miranda and her family have to gather food immediately after the moon disaster. It is pouring rain and they have to race many other people in the store. Miranda's mother's choice to stockpile so early was one of the main reasons that they were able to survive. (Ch3)
Curcillo Life As We Knew It
Matt and Jon, Miranda's brothers, have to chop wood all day in the summer and hope that they will have enough to make it through the cold winter. When they started chopping wood, it was close to 100 degrees out. It seemed unnecessary at the time, but the sun would soon be covered by ash, with subzero temperatures during the winter.(ch7)
Miranda's family is forced to board up all the windows to conserve heat as it gets colder, and all move into the same room so they are able to use the woodstove and stop using oil. Miranda opposed this at first but eventually accepted it. Their decision to save some oil saved their lives later in the book.(Ch15)
Miranda had to hike through the city on her own, tired and hungry, while the rats all feasted on the dead bodies around her. Her family had almost run out of food, and she went to town to see if she could possibly find any. She struggled with her empty stomach to make it to the city hall. (ch20)
Just as they are about to run out of food, Miranda goes to the city hall because of a flyer that she found. She finds out that they are allowed to get one bag of food per person per week. If she hadn't gotten the food, their family would have started to starve within the week, and died within the month. (Ch21)