Holes: Part 2, Chapter 43 Summary & Analysis

After spending the morning picking onions and preparing for their journey back to Camp Green Lake, Stanley listens to Zero talk about his mother. Zero says they used to live in a real house, and his room was yellow. His mother used to sing the same lullaby that Stanley sang to him. Zero isn't sure why they had to move out and live on the street.

Stanley and Zero's plan is to leave early the next morning, arrive at Camp Green Lake before dark, and then dig in the hole where Stanley found the lipstick tube overnight. Then, regardless of what they find, they'll leave after hopefully stealing food and water. Stanley thinks about his parents and wonders if they've been evicted for the smell of Stanley's dad's experiments. He wonders if they'll be homeless, and wonders, too, if the camp told them he's missing.

Stanley and Zero head down the mountain the next morning. Stanley points out where he found the shovel, and Zero is impressed that Stanley carried him so far up the mountain. Stanley, who is carrying the sack of jars filled with water, slips and begins to slide down the mountain. The onions spill but finally, Stanley is able to stop himself. Miraculously, the jars don't break, and the boys are able to collect the onions they lost as they continue down the mountain.

At the bottom, Stanley and Zero ask each other if they're thirsty. Stanley lies and says he isn't, and he thinks that this is becoming a contest between them. Neither of them wants to be the first to drink. They carefully climb down the cliff and again discuss drinking, feigning worry for the other. Finally, the boys decide to drink together. They find the Mary Lou before noon and sit in its shade to rest.

Zero says that he has no idea why Zero's mother left him. As Zero talks, Stanley thinks that Zero is explaining this to himself more than to him. Zero says that his mother used to ask him to wait for her while she went off alone. Zero would hug his stuffed giraffe, Jaffy, while she was gone. Then, he says, she left him at a park and didn't come back for a month. The boys eat onions and drink, and then discuss which direction to go to reach Camp Green Lake.

Zero continues his story as they walk. He says that once, a few weeks after Zero's mother left, some kids about his age had a birthday party at the park. One girl invited him to play, though Zero knew he didn't belong. He noticed one mother who stared at him as though he were a monster. When one boy offered Zero cake, the mother told Zero to go away and told the other kids to stay away from him. Zero says he ran away so fast that he forgot Jaffy. Stanley asks if Zero ever found Jaffy, and Zero admits that Jaffy wasn't real. Stanley thinks of how awful it would be for his parents to not know if he was dead or alive, and thinks that's how Zero must've felt.

Zero stops suddenly and insists they're going the wrong way. He draws a map in the dirt proving his point and Stanley follows him, even though he doesn't think it's right. Later that afternoon, a cloud rolls overhead and casts shade. Finally, Zero stops Stanley and asks him to listen. They can hear Camp Green Lake and, specifically, Mr. Sir. As the boys approach some holes, they decide to climb into them and wait. Stanley and Zero wait until they can't hear anything and then creep silently towards camp. Stanley feels a rush of fear as he sees the camp, but he manages to point out the hole where he found the lipstick tube. He and Zero hide and wait for nightfall.