Holes Summary and review of chapters 10-28

10 Stanley wakes up early, sore and resenting the sun. Back on the lake he begins his second hole, trying to avoid putting pressure on his blisters and being careful to pile his dirt far away from what will be the perimeter of his hole. He finds a rock with a fossilized fish in it and slacks off on his digging thinking that the fossil will qualify as something interesting to report and he will be given the rest of the day off. When Mr. Pendanski arrives with the water truck the boys line up in their predetermined order. At the end of the line is Stanley who shows Mr. Pendanski the fossil. Mr. Pendanski fills Stanleys canteen, laughs and tells Stanley the Warden is not interested in fossils. The other boys pass the rock around. 11 Stanley resumes digging but is interrupted by X-Ray who tells Stanley to give any interesting finds to him. Since X-Ray is the leader of the group and Stanley needs his approval, Stanley agrees. As he continues to dig, Stanley wonders how X-Ray, who is the smallest boy except for Zero, became the leader. He realizes that he himself is the biggest of the boys and is glad that they have shown their acceptance by giving him a nickname. 12 When Stanley returns to the camp after finishing his second hole, he finds the other boys counselling with Mr. Pendanski. X-Ray needles Stanley telling him that the third hole will be the hardest. Stanley joins the group as they discuss what each boy wants to do as a career. Mr. Pendanski points out that Stanley is at Camp Green Lake because of one person, implying that that person is Stanley. When Stanley responds that the person is his no-gooddirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, the other boys roar with laughter. For the first time, even Zero smiles a wide smile. Mr. Pendanski continues to advise the boys that they must be responsible for the future. Even you, Zero. Youre not completely worthless. Zero stops smiling and stares angrily at Mr. Pendanski saying, I like to dig holes.

13 Stanley discovers that X-Ray was right about the third hole being the hardest. Then the fourth hole is the hardest and each subsequent hole after that. Stanley becomes thinner and his hands get tougher. He has lost track of how many holes he has dug. He uncovers a small gold tube with the initials KB engraved inside of a heart. He reluctantly gives it to X-Ray and suggests that X-Ray wait until the next day to report it so that X-Ray can

get the whole day off. When the water truck arrives, X-Ray moves Stanley up one place in line, ahead of Zero. 14 Stanley feels sorry for himself. The one time he is lucky he will not get credit. At breakfast he asks X-Ray if he has it. X-Ray rudely replies that he doesnt know what Stanley is talking about. While digging Stanley wonders why X-Ray snapped at him. Then, at the last instant, before Mr. Pendanski leaves, X-Ray shouts from his hole that he has found something. Mr. Pendanski says that the Warden will be pleased and leaves. Shortly, Mr. Pendanski returns with the Warden, a red-haired, freckled woman in a black cowboy hat and turquoise studded boots. She gives X-Ray the day off and tells Mr. Pendanski to fill the other boys canteens. She is angered when he replies that he has just filled them. She calls Caveman over to show Mr. Pendanski that there is room for more water in the canteen. Stanley wonders how she knows his nickname. The Warden admonishes Mr. Pendanski for questioning her and threatens to make him dig holes. 16 X-Ray is driven back to the camp and Mr. Pendanski is instructed to return with three wheelbarrows. Calling the remaining boys by their nicknames, the Warden pairs them up, one to continue digging and one to sift through the excavated dirt and load it into a wheelbarrow. She offers the day off and a double shower to anyone who finds something. The canteens are continuously refilled. The Warden stays and watches the dig nervously. Finally, she calls it a day and leaves. Zigzag explains to Stanley that there are tiny hidden cameras all over the camp Stanley realizes that that is how the Warden knew his nickname, and that is why X-Ray snubbed him that morning. He also realizes they are not digging to build character but to find something specific. He knows they are digging in the wrong place and memorizes the location of the hole where he had actually found the gold tube the day before. The Warden becomes impatient and threatens to make Mr. Sir dig if he does not. Mr. Sir reminds the boys they are not in the Girl Scouts. Group D works later than any other group. That evening, while considering telling the Warden the truth, Stanley receives a letter from his mother. The other boys start to tease him but X-Ray calls them off. When the boys leave Stanley reads the letter. His mother writes that she is proud Stanley is doing well at camp and that the family may be evicted because of the foul sneaker smell from his fathers experiments. 17

The boys continue to dig around the hole where X-Ray had found the gold tube for the next week and a half. The Warden becomes impatient and irritable to the point of jabbing Armpit with a pitchfork, drawing blood. The boys are also irritable. Zigzag strikes Stanley in the head with his shovel accusing Stanley of adding dirt where Zigzag has to dig. Stanleys large gash is bleeding. Mr. Sir tapes a piece of his sunflower seed sack over it and tells Stanley to keep digging. 18 The next day the boys are back to the routine of digging their holes in a different part of the lake. Stanley is relived that the task is once again finite and he does not have the Warden or the other boys swing shovels close by. He is stronger now and can almost keep pace with the other boys digging

Back in the camp Stanley showers and begins to write another encouraging, though not factual, letter to his mother. Again, Zero is over his shoulder. At first Stanley did not care. He has bought into the idea that Zero is worthless. When he tells Zero not to read over his shoulder Zero tells Stanley that he does not know how to read. Stanley is cold toward Zero and refuses Zeros request that Stanley teach him to read. Stanley feels he needs to save his energy for the people who counted. 19 In the middle of the night Stanley hears Squid crying. When he speaks to Squid about it Squid threatens to break Stanleys jaw. Out on the lake Mr. Sir comes and fills the boys canteens. After he leaves, Magnet calls to the other boys because he has stolen Mr. Sirs sunflower seeds. The boys toss the sack around to share. When it comes to Stanley the seeds spill out into his hole. The boys see Mr. Sir returning as Stanley tries to bury the seeds. Mr. Sir goes from hole to hole and sees the seeds at the bottom of Stanleys hole. Stanley confesses that he stole the seeds from Mr. Sirs truck and ate them all himself. The other boys go along with the story. Mr. Sir and Stanley get into the truck to go speak with the Warden. 20 Stanley confesses to the Warden about the sunflower seeds. Mr. Sir says he thinks Stanley is trying to cover for one of the other boys. The Warden sends Stanley into her dressing room to fetch a makeup case. From among the lipstick and other contents she takes out a bottle of red nail polish that is mixed with rattlesnake venom. She explains that it is harmless when dry, but toxic when wet. She paints her nails and slaps Mr. Sir leaving burning red streaks where his face is scratched. Mr. Sir lay screaming on the floor as Stanley left. The Warden sneered that it was unfortunate for Stanley that Mr. Sir would not die.

21 As Stanley walks back to his hole he thinks about his great grandfather, the pig-stealers son, who had spent seventeen days lost in the desert after being robbed by Kissin Kate Barlow. He was rescued, claiming he had found refuge on Gods thumb, was sent to a hospital, and married one of the nurses. When he reaches the spot where Group D is digging he sees that Zero has nearly finished his hole for him. 22 At the camp, the other boys tease Zero about why he likes to dig so much. Stanley waits until he and Zero are alone to thank him for digging his hole and to ask why Zero helped him. Zero replies that Stanley did not steal the sunflower seeds, and he did not steal the sneakers either. Stanley offers to teach Zero how to read. Zero smiles a wide-mouthed smile. Stanley is impressed at how smart Zero is both in memorization and in math. In return for the lessons, Zero offers to dig Stanleys hole for an hour each day. In closing, Zero tells Stanley, Im not stupid, I know everybody thinks I am. I just dont like answering their questions. As he tries to sleep the memory of his experience in the Wardens cabin drifts around in his head. Suddenly remembering the makeup case, he realizes that the gold tube he had found is the top from a lipstick, and the KB inscribed on it could mean Kate Barlow.

23 Green Lake was actually a lake over one hundred years ago. Each year Miss Katherine Barlow would pick peaches from the trees that lined the shore, and preserve them in jars with spices. Katherine taught school in a broken down schoolhouse. The town children loved her, and so did the young men. One man, Charles Walker, tried to court Miss Barlow. He was rich, but inconsiderate, arrogant and stupid, so Katherine turned him down, much to his chagrin

24 In the morning Stanley sees Mr. Sir whose face is badly swollen from the Wardens scratches. Out on the lake Stanley does not dare talk to the other boys about what happened to Mr. Sir. When Mr. Sir comes to fill the boys canteens he runs the water on to the dry ground rather than fill Stanleys. 25 and 26

Sam the onion man rowed his homemade boat across the Green Lake of one hundred years ago with his donkey, Mary Lou. He sold onions that seem to have incredible medicinal powers, curing everything from asthma to baldness.

Sam was a Negro, so he was not allowed to attend Miss Katherine Barlows school, but she talked him into making repair after repair on the old schoolhouse so they could spend time together. One rainy evening when there was nothing left to repair, Sam kissed Katherine. They were seen by a woman from the town. Soon the whole town knew that the schoolteacher had kissed the onion man. Trout Walker led an angry mob into the schoolhouse where they tore things apart and set fire to the books. Katherine escaped and ran to the sheriff. He was drunk and told Katherine that Sam would be hung for kissing a white woman. He offered Katherine a deal, One sweet kiss and I wont hang your boyfriend. Ill just run him out of town. Katherine jerked herself free and ran out to find Sam. She and Sam tried to escape in Sams rowboat, leaving Mary Lou behind. Trout Walker came after them in his motorboat, smashed into Sams boat, shot Sam, and brought Katherine back to the shore .That is when it stopped raining forever at Green Lake. A few days later Miss Katherine Barlow went back and shot the sheriff, then kissed him leaving a red lipstick print. She would be the fearsome Kissin Kate Barlow for the next twenty years 27 For days Mr. Sir has been pouring Stanleys water onto the ground, so Stanley now conserves his water as he digs. It helps that Zero digs part of Stanleys hole, but the other boys are angry about this and do not understand that Stanley is saving his energy to teach Zero how to read. When Mr. Sir comes with the water truck again, he fills Stanleys canteen and then takes it to the far side of the truck and does something unseen before returning it to Stanley. Later while digging, Stanley pours his canteen out without drinking, afraid of what Mr. Sir might have put in it. Stanley learns Zeros real name is Hector Zeroni 28 Kate Barlow, who had become a little crazy, returned to Green Lake after twenty years. All that remained of the town was a small cabin near two oak trees. Kate lived in the cabin remembering and sometimes imagining Sams presence. She wished she were dead. After a few months, Trout Walker came and kicked down her door. He had with him a gun and a red-haired woman who had married him for his money, which had dried up with the lake. They brutally demanded that Kate lead them to where she had buried her treasure. Kate walked outside barefoot, leaving her turquoise-studded boots inside, and zigzagged around the vast wasteland leading Trout and his wife nowhere. She was bitten by a yellowspotted lizard and told Trout and his screeching wife to go ahead and dig. Kate Barlow died laughing.