Chapter 27

For days Mr. Sir has been pouring Stanley’s water onto the ground, so Stanley now conserves his water as he digs. It helps that Zero digs part of Stanley’s 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 Stanley’s 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 finishes teaching the quick-learning Zero how to write the letters of the alphabet. He teaches Zero how to write his name. Zero tells Stanley that his real name is Hector Zeroni.

Notes: Though Stanley and Zero are unaware of it, the reader now knows that Zero, Hector Zeroni, is a descendant of Madame Zeroni, the gypsy that helped and may have cursed Stanley’s great-great-grandfather. (The astute reader may have already guessed this because of the resemblance between Zero and Madame Zeroni. Both have round faces and wide-mouthed smiles.) Again the reader is given more information, but not enough to see how the pieces fit together.

Chapter 28

Kate Barlow, who had become a little crazy, returned to Green Lake after twenty years. The lake had almost completely dried up. All that remained of the town was a small cabin near two oak trees. Kate lived in the cabin remembering and sometimes imagining Sam’s 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 yellow-spotted lizard and told Trout and his screeching wife to go ahead and dig. “Kate Barlow died laughing.”

Notes: Stanley’s link with history is becoming clear. He is digging in the exact area where Kissin’ Kate Barlow buried her treasure, and is under the control of the apparent granddaughter of Trout Walker. The Warden has inherited her cruel, demanding personality from Trout, and her turquoise-studded boots and red hair from Trout Walker’s wife. The story is still a puzzle though because it is not yet known why Stanley is digging alongside a descendant of Madame Zeroni.