Chapter Summary Essay: Tub Waits In The Woods

Tub waits in the snow for his friends, Frank and Kenny, to pick him up for their annual hunting trip. They arrive and immediately Kenny begins to antagonize Tub. Once the men reach the woods, Tub’s size causes him to lag behind the other two men. They hunt for hours to no avail, and once they settle down to eat, Kenny continues to make fun of Tub, with Frank joining in. However, Tub excuses his obesity as an inherited trait. The men resume hunting as it continues to get colder, though it turns out Tub had missed some tracks in the snow. Following the tracks, they see that a deer had escaped to a private area, and Kenny wants to go after it. As the men leave for the truck, Tub lags behind again and eventually stops at a stump to sit and eat

When they leave the tavern, they see Kenny attempted to leave the truck bed and put him back in place. Kenny’s teeth are chattering and he tells Frank he’s hurting, so Frank appeases Kenny with a mantra and they start driving again. Tub realizes he left the shortcut given to them by the farmer’s wife back at the tavern, but they decide to continue. Though the snowfall lightens it only gets colder and Frank and Tub stop at the next roadhouse they see. While they’re warming up in the roadhouse, Tub confesses to Frank that his obesity is all his own fault, not hereditary, comparing his poor diet to that of a double life. Frank supports Tub and buys him four orders of pancakes at the roadhouse restaurant, encouraging Tub to gorge himself. When they leave the roadhouse, they see Kenny’s blankets had been blown off and decide to take them for themselves. They drive for a while and Tub remarks to Frank what the farmer told him about Kenny and the dog back at the farmhouse. Frank and Tub laugh together while in the back, Kenny continues to repeat his mantra, and it’s revealed that they’d been driving the wrong way to the hospital for a very long