Hoot Study Guide

Chapter 16

On Sunday, the Eberhardts are eating lunch when the doorbell rings. It is Garrett and he wants Roy to go skateboarding. Garrett tells Roy all about Dana being busted and how this time, they’re going to lock him up for good. It gives Roy a sense of liberation.

Meanwhile, Curly is feeling good about the bust as well especially when it comes to reporting to Mr. Muckle. He goes back to the trailer and discovers that his gun is missing. He begins to search for it when he discovers something more has happened: someone has removed the seats from every bulldozer, making them impossible to operate. Now Curly knows that either Dana has an accomplice or someone completely separate has broken into the site. The final insult is when he discovers his gun inside one of the Travelin’ Johnnys.

Roy really wants to go over to the junkyard, but his mother insists on some family time. So, his father finally fulfills a promise he had made to Roy to take him on an airboat ride through the Everglades. The trip reinforces Roy’s newfound feelings about preserving nature and the places in danger of being wiped out. He also comes to realize that his parents can be his friends and that the constant moves are not any easier on them than they are on him. When they arrive home, they have a message left on their answering machine from Officer Delinko about the arrest of Dana Matherson. They ask Roy if Dana is collaborating with Mullet Fingers, and of course, Roy protests that Dana wouldn’t care at all about the owls.

Roy asks his father what he would have to do to check up on Mother Paula’s permits and his father tells him to go to the building department at City Hall. He goes to bed and is just falling asleep when he hears someone whisper his name: Beatrice is laying underneath his bed. Things had become impossible at home and she was able to take the sliding door to the Enberhardt house off its track and entered. He lets her sleep there and tells her that since they can’t stop Mullett Fingers from protecting the owls, they’re going to have to join him.

Notes

This chapter continues to reinforce Roy’s progress in becoming a man of integrity. He recognizes the beauty of the natural world and the value of his parents. He also takes on the responsibility to do the right thing when he tells Beatrice that they have to join her brother in his protection of the owls.