Stanley angrily dug his shovel into the dirt. He was angry at everyone—Mr. Pendanski, the Warden, Zigzag, X-Ray, and his no- good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. But mostly he was angry at himself.
He knew he never should have let Zero dig part of his hole for him. He still could have taught him to read. If Zero could dig all day and still have the strength to learn, then he should have been able to dig all day and still have the strength to teach.
What he should do, he thought, was go out after Zero. But he didn’t.
None of the others helped him dig Zero’s hole, and he didn’t expect them to. Zero had been helping him dig his hole. Now he had to dig Zero’s.
He remained out on the lake, digging during the hottest part of the day, long after everyone else had gone in. He kept an eye out for Zero, but Zero didn’t come back.
It would have been easy to go out after Zero. There was nobody to stop him. He kept thinking that’s what he should do.
Maybe they could climb to the top of Big Thumb.
If it wasn’t too far away. And if it was really the same place where his great-grandfather found refuge. And if, after a hundred years or so, water was still there.
It didn’t seem likely. Not when an entire lake had gone dry.
And even if they did find refuge on Big Thumb, he thought, they’d still have to come back here, eventually. Then they’d both have to face the Warden, and her rattlesnake fingers.
Instead, he came up with a better idea, although he didn’t have it quite all figured out yet. He thought that maybe he could make a deal with the Warden. He’d tell her where he really found the gold tube if she wouldn’t scratch Zero.
He wasn’t sure how he’d make this deal without getting himself in deeper trouble. She might just say, Tell me where you found it or I’ll scratch you, too. Plus, it would mean X-Ray would get in trouble, too. She’d probably scratch him up as well.
X-Ray would be out to get him for the next sixteen months. He dug his shovel into the dirt.
By the next morning, Zero still hadn’t returned. Stanley saw one of the counselors sitting guard by the water spigot outside the shower wall.
Mr. Pendanski had two black eyes and a bandage over his nose. “I always knew he was stupid,” Stanley heard him say.
Stanley was required to dig only one hole the next day. As he dug, he kept a constant watchout for Zero, but never saw him. Once again he considered going out on the lake to look for him, but he began to realize that it was already too late.
His only hope was that Zero had found God’s thumb on his own. It wasn’t impossible. His great-grandfather had found it. For some reason his great-grandfather had felt the urge to climb to the top of that mountain. Maybe Zero would feel the same urge.
If it was the same mountain. If water was still there.
He tried to convince himself it wasn’t impossible. There had been a storm just a few days ago. Maybe Big Thumb was actually some kind of natural water tower that caught and stored the rain.
It wasn’t impossible.
He returned to his tent to find the Warden, Mr. Sir, and Mr. Pendanski all waiting for him.
“Have you seen Zero?” the Warden asked him. “No.”
“No sign of him at all?” “No.”
“Do you have any idea where he went?” “No.”
“You know you’re not doing him any favors if you’re lying,” said Mr. Sir. “He can’t survive out there for more than a day or two.”
“I don’t know where he is.”
All three of them stared at Stanley, trying to determine if he was being truthful. Mr. Pendanski’s face was so swollen that his eyes were nearly closed, just narrow slits.
“Are you sure he has no family?” the Warden asked Mr. Pendanski. “He’s a ward of the state,” Mr. Pendanski replied. “He was living on the streets when he was arrested.”
“Is there anyone who might inquire about him? Any social worker who showed interest?”
“He had nobody,” Mr. Pendanski said. “He was nobody.”
The Warden paused to think. “Alright, I want you to eliminate all his records.”
Mr. Pendanski nodded.
“He was never here,” the Warden declared. Mr. Sir nodded in agreement.
“Can you access the state files from our computer?” she asked Mr. Pendanski. “I don’t want anyone in the Attorney General’s office to know he was here.”
“I don’t think I can completely erase him from all the state files,” Mr. Pendanski said. “There are too many cross-references. But I can make it very difficult for anyone to find a record of him. Like I said, though, no one will ever look. No one cares about Hector Zeroni.”
“Good,” the Warden replied.
