Holes

The Warden, Mr. Pendanski, and Mr. Sir are outside Stanley and Zero’s hole waiting for them. The Warden starts talking but then backs away when she sees that a “lizard had crawled up on top of the suitcase” and other lizards are crawling over Zero in the hole (205). The Warden tells the adults just to wait it out, even though the state will probably have questions about what happened. She reveals that her parents would dig holes every day and that when she was a kid, she would have to dig holes too. The adults wait for Stanley and Zero to get bitten. Each beat of Stanley’s heart tells him “he was still alive, at least for one more second” (206).

As time passes, Zero and Stanley still haven’t been bitten by the lizards. The Warden tells Mr. Sir and Mr. Pendanski that they’ll claim that Stanley ran away and got bitten in a hole and that they don’t have to worry about Zero because they erased his record of being there. Instead of thinking about his terrible situation, Stanley thinks about a time when he fell down an icy hill with his mom and how they laughed about it: “This is where he wanted to be when he died” (209). Mr. Sir reveals that Stanley’s lawyer came to get Stanley yesterday because she was able to prove Stanley’s innocence, but Stanley wasn’t there to go home. Stanley doesn’t believe him, though, because his family cannot afford a lawyer.

As the sun rises, the lizards are still on Stanley and Zero. Mr. Sir, the Warden, and Mr. Pendanski are still waiting for them to die. A car comes to Camp Green Lake with a short woman and a tall man, who reveal themselves to be Stanley’s lawyer and the attorney general. Stanley’s lawyer threatens the Warden that she will file charges against the camp and the state of Texas if anything happens to Stanley. The Warden lies and tells them that Stanley and Zero stole her suitcase from her cabin and that Stanley couldn’t go home yesterday because his lawyer didn’t have proper authorization even though the court order she brought was signed by the judge who sentenced Stanley. The Warden also says that Stanley has been hallucinating and delirious and is unsafe to send home. Stanley finally gets up and the lizards all scatter away from him. He also helps Zero up and the lizards scatter again. The Warden tries to take the suitcase from Zero, but Zero says it belongs to Stanley. They all look at the suitcase and “there, in big black letters, was STANLEY YELNATS” (216).

Back at camp, Stanley learns that the tall man is the Texas attorney general and that his lawyer’s name is Ms. Morengo. It is also revealed that the Warden’s real name is Ms. Walker. The Warden lies again and says that Stanley used the suitcase to steal her belongings, but Ms. Morengo tells Stanley not to say anything or open the suitcase. As Stanley is getting ready to leave, Zero gives him a thumbs-up. Stanley thinks that they will kill Zero, but the attorney general states that Zero will be fine because he is taking over the camp. Stanley refuses to leave and Ms. Morengo asks to see Hector’s (Zero’s) file, however, Mr. Pendanski cannot find it since he destroyed it earlier in the book when they thought Zero was dead. The attorney general makes some calls to try to find information on Zero, but can’t find anything. Zero goes with Stanley and Ms. Morengo.

This chapter begins with a flashback from more than 100 years ago. Rattlesnake hunters buy Sam special onion juice. The juice must be consumed the night before and during the day because “the lizards don’t like onion blood” (224).

In the present day, Stanley and Zero sit in Ms. Morengo’s car with the suitcase between them. She explains that she is a patent attorney and that she was helping Stanley’s dad when she found out about Stanley’s case. She was able to prove Stanley’s innocence because Derrick Dunne had bullied Stanley at the time of the theft. Ms. Morengo also tells them that Stanley’s dad invented a new foot deodorizer and that it smells like peaches. The boys fall asleep “and for the first time in over a hundred years, a drop of rain fell into the empty lake” (225).

In the final chapter of the book, the author addresses the reader directly. He says that the reader might find it interesting that Stanley’s father invented his foot deodorizer “the day after the great-great-grandson of Elya Yelnats carried the great-great-grandson of Madame Zeroni up the mountain” (229). Also, Camp Green Lake is closed and will become a Girl Scout camp. The suitcase has some old jewels in it, but also lots of stock certificates, deeds of trust, and promissory notes that ended up giving Stanley and Zero a little less than $1 million each, which helps Stanley buy a house with a laboratory and Zero hire a team of private investigators.

The author provides a final scene that occurs a year and a half after Stanley and Zero leave Camp Green Lake. A small party is being hosted at Stanley’s house because the ad for Sloosh, the foot deodorizer, is being aired at the Super Bowl. Clyde Livingston is at the party because he is the star of the commercial.

When the curse is lifted off the Yelnats, Stanley’s dad’s invention works, and he starts a successful foot deodorant company. The treasure Stanley and Zero find in the suitcase with Stanley’s name gives them each roughly $1 million. Stanley splits the money with Zero evenly. The author implies that Zero hires a team of private investigators to search for his mother; the reader sees Zero with her at the Super Bowl party. The book ends with Zero’s mother singing the song that connects their two families.