CHAPTER 22: Losers, Winners

Summary

Saturday morning, Turtle Wexler posts a message on the elevator wall confessing to the bombs, apologizing for what she did, and promising to buy everyone a Chinese dinner when she wins the inheritance. James Hoo feels sorry for Grace Wexler and the situation with her daughters. Madame Hoo is happy, since she knows today is the day Doug has a track meet. She decides to never steal Doug's medals, though she's been stealing for two years to pay for her return to China. Madame Hoo also decides she won't sell the Mickey Mouse clock of Turtle Wexler.

Walking down the hall and to the elevator, Grace resists the idea of going to the track meet with Jake or even attending the Westing house that evening. Jake tries to calm Grace down but she only grows more agitated, inadvertently insulting her husband by implying he's not a real doctor. Grace begins to cry and Jake comforts her, telling her they'll go home. Turtle sees them on the second floor and apologizes again for the bombs, wanting to protect Angela and his mother, who would be even more upset if she knew the truth. Jake tells Turtle and Flora Baumbach to have fun at the track meet, but that's not where they're headed. At the Wexler apartment, Jake asks Angela and Sydelle Pulaski to leave him and Grace alone for a while. Angela is surprised that they showed no interest in how she got home, but is pleased by this. She and Sydelle go to Sydelle's apartment and when Sydelle sings "For purple waves of grain," Angela corrects her with "amber waves". This makes them think of Otis Amber.

Judge Ford is concerned that Sam Westing will have his revenge at the meeting of the heirs this evening and she needs to protect the former Mrs. Westing. Further, Turtle's story makes her think Sam Westing is still alive and had left a wax dummy as his corpse. A knock on her door disturbs her: it's Denton Deere with Chris Theodorakis. Everyone else has gone to the track meet and doorman Sandy McSouthers suggested that Judge Ford wouldn't mind watching Chris for the afternoon while Denton is at the hospital. She agrees to this, noting that Chris' hand is steadier than before, a sign that his new medicine is helping. Chris observes some Canadian geese, which impresses Judge Ford. However, she returns to her clippings and realizes the wax dummy of Sam Westing that Turtle found was based on how he looked fifteen years ago, before the car accident with Doctor Sidney Sikes. In that accident, Westing suffered facial injuries and today he must have a new face from plastic surgery.

Turtle is at the dentist having her cavity drilled. She thinks of how Barney Northrup had come to the Wexlers this morning demanding payment for all the damages from the bomb. Turtle responded by kicking him hard in the shins, the hardest she's ever done. Lost in these thoughts, Turtle is surprised at the lack of pain from the dental work. However, she's also going with Flora to the beauty parlor to cut off her singed hair.

Though a high school senior competing against college students, Doug Hoo wins the mile run at the track meet. Doug says he owes it all to his father; James Hoo believes that his paper innersoles and Doug's feet will take them to the Olympics. That evening, Madame Hoo tells Doug in English, "Good boy."

Sandy McSouthers arrives in 4D and asks Judge Ford if she's spoken with Barney Northrup. Northrup just fired Sandy when he returned from the track meet, claiming that complaints were filed against the doorman. Judge Ford says she hasn't seen Barney Northrup since she rented the apartment, then wonders if Northrup was Westing's disguise. Excusing themselves from Chris, Judge Ford tells Sandy that they will give no answer that evening at the meeting of the Westing heirs. Their duty is to protect the former Mrs. Westing, which Sandy guesses is Crow. Sandy then goes on to express suspicions about Otis Amber, who he thinks is really Sam Westing. This alarms Judge Ford, who thinks that if this is so, she played right into Sam Westing's hands.

On the road up to Westing house, Otis is urging Crow to hurry up. Crow says she feels Sam Westing's presence and that he's looking for Violet Westing's murderer. She believes someone is in real danger and it's herself.

Notes

Though he remains a secondary figure during much of the Westing game, Douglas Hoo's reason for being - his athletic skill as a runner - finally takes center stage briefly in the story. He is so taken by his victories in this track meet, for the rest of the novel he cares about the Westing game even less than before. There is a stab at family unity among the Hoos as James takes pride in his "dumb jock" son - who in turn takes pride in his father's new invention - while Sun Lin finally communicates her own pride in English. Readers also find out Sun Lin Hoo is the thief in a very casual fashion, as Sun Lin decides what stolen goods she will keep and what she will never steal - her stepson's medals, which further reinforces the sense of familial unity. Meanwhile, the Wexler family begin to mend in the wake of Turtle's confession: Jake comforts Grace over her sense of shame, while Angela is no longer the center of her mother's attention.

Further clues of Sam Westing's disguises surface in this chapter: the visit to Sandy McSouthers' dentist points to the use of false teeth as a disguise, while Turtle kicking Barney Northrup provides another important clue to unraveling the identity shell game Westing has been playing. Westing also continues to push the endgame: as Sandy, he reports being fired by Barney Northrup. He also flummoxes Judge Ford's plan with his "suspicion" that Otis Amber is really Sam Westing.