In the Lake of the Woods: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

The chapter describes John’s behavior the day he allegedly discovers that Kathy is missing. John wakes up late, and by the time he’s showered and brewed coffee, it’s almost noon. As he eats his eggs, he calls to Kathy. No one responds. He sits and continues eating, assuming that Kathy has gone for a walk. While he waits for Kathy to return, he decides to clean the house. There is a disgusting smell of dead plants, which he needs to get rid of. John thinks about getting up early and jogging from now on—he needs to “shape up.”

John cleans up the dead houseplants he killed last night. He rehearses an explanation he’ll give to Kathy when she returns. He does laundry, and goes through bank statements. Around one thirty, he pours himself a vodka tonic. As he drinks it, he plans to write a list of his debts. For the time being, though, he relaxes.

A little later, John awakes from a light nap, thinking that he hears something moving in the room. He thinks he feels Kathy’s fingertips touching his eyelids, and hears her saying, “So stupid. You could’ve tried me.”

Around 6 pm, John has a drink and walks to the dock. He begins to sense that something isn’t right—Kathy has been gone for a long time. He imagines that she might have fallen and hurt herself. He finds a flashlight in the cottage, and walks through the woods toward a nearby fire tower. He thinks he hears breathing in the woods, and calls Kathy’s name, but there is no reply. John decides that Kathy is probably back at the cottage by now, so he decides to walk back. When he arrives at the cottage, he sees that Kathy isn’t there. He considers calling Claude Rasmussen, but concludes that there’s no need—Kathy will be home soon.

The night of the day Kathy disappears, John takes a shower and drinks the rest of his vodka. He begins drinking rum. He feels nauseous and realizes that something might have happened to Kathy. Trying to convince himself that he’s not too drunk, he walks toward the boathouse near the cottage. As he walks, he tells himself reasons why he shouldn’t be afraid—Kathy is an excellent swimmer, for instance.

At the boathouse, John sees that the boat is gone—“as it had to be.” He thinks that he and Kathy have been married almost 17 years, and now a huge part of his life is probably about to change. He seems to imagine Kathy sitting in the boathouse, and thinks that Kathy has reason to be afraid of him, since she knows from reading the newspapers what John is capable of. John imagines steam rising from Kathy’s eye sockets. The narrator says such a scene is “impossible, of course.” John turns and runs to his Buick.

John drives to see Ruth Rasmussen, who insists that John is drunk, though John insists that he isn’t. Ruth is a sturdy woman in her mid-fifties. She gives John water to sober him up, and assures him that Kathy is fine. John repeats that their boat is gone, but Ruth says this isn’t unusual—even if Kathy is stranded somewhere, she can take care of herself.

As John and Ruth talk, Claude Rasmussen emerges from his room. He is almost 80 years old. He puts on boots and a hat, and tells Ruth to call Vinny Pearson at the Mini-Mart (which happens to be where John and Kathy had their argument earlier). He makes a few jokes about John’s political career, calling John a drunk senator. John calls the jokes “cute.” Claude assures him that everything will be fine.

John gives Claude the keys to his Buick, and he drives John back to the cottage. John thinks about what he knows about Claude: Claude is old and unhealthy, but he’s very tough. While he acts like a hick, he is intelligent and highly wealthy, and owns much of the surrounding area. John knows him as a former contributor to his political party. While the two men aren’t friends, it was Claude who called John after his electoral defeat to offer him a chance to stay in the cottage in Lake of the Woods for two weeks. In the car, John repeats that Kathy has taken the boat. Claude responds that this doesn’t mean anything. He calls John “Senator” and adds sarcastically that he likes John’s optimism.

Back at the cottage, John walks Claude through the rooms. Claude asks where the phone is, and John says that he unplugged it and put it under the kitchen sink. Claude is surprised at this, and points out that it’s made it impossible for Kathy to call John that day. He plugs the phone in and calls Ruth; he says that there’s a busy signal, and that Ruth is probably talking to Kathy right now. He tells John that he’s owned his land on Lake of the Woods for nearly a quarter century, and has never lost a single person, except for a few fishermen. He proposes that they wait and drink rum.

Claude and John sit and talk—it’s almost 2 am. John pictures Kathy at the bottom of the lake with seaweed in her hair. Claude asks John if Kathy can swim. John says that Kathy is a good swimmer, but suggests that they begin searching the lake. Claude points out that the lake is pitch-black and foggy. Vinny Pearson runs the Texaco station, and is effectively the police officer for the area, but because he makes so little money, he won’t want to wake up in the night and begin searching. Claude says that, at worst, Kathy is “beached up” somewhere.

John and Claude continue to talk. Claude asks John if John and Kathy had been fighting; John insists that they hadn’t. Claude continues to call John a senator, and eventually, John tells Claude to stop. Claude smirks and reminds John of how badly he lost. He reminisces about the old days of the Democratic Farm Labor party in Minnesota, adding that he can’t say he voted for John, but also that he can’t say he didn’t vote for him. Claude reminds John that John never asked Claude for money. Though John could never have won the election, due to news in the papers, Claude might have given him money anyway.

Claude calls Ruth, talks to her, and tells John that Ruth has been calling various local numbers and hasn’t reached Kathy yet. He notices the flowerpots John has been cleaning out, and asks what happened. John merely says there was an accident—“hell of an accident,” Claude replies.