The Night Watchman: Woodland Beauty Summary & Analysis

Wood Mountain gets off the train and walks to his sister Bernadette’s house. Bernadette tells him that Patrice had been there and that she was with Jack, who looked sickly and skinny. She says he’s been a functioning “junkie” for years. Bernadette says that her husband Cal wouldn’t believe Wood Mountain is Bernadette’s brother and wouldn’t want him to stay with them, so he goes to look for other accommodations.

Wood Mountain finds a room in the hotel next to Log Jam 26. Later, after dinner, he goes to the bar and sees the glowing water tank in the middle. A cardboard sign on the table reads, “Exotic Attraction! Woodland Beauty! Our Own World-Famous Waterjack.” The waitress tells Wood Mountain that the current waterjack is the third one, that the first one died and the second is fading fast. When the waterjack begins the show, Wood Mountain doesn’t pay much attention at first. But when he looks closer, he sees that it’s Patrice. He walks toward the tank, and when he raises a fist to pound on the glass, he’s seized and dragged out the door.

After the show, when the waitress brings Patrice her meal, she also passes Patrice a note from Wood Mountain. The note says that he tried to get her attention but got thrown out and that he’s at the hotel next door in room 328. As she drifts off to sleep, she has a sudden shock of clarity. Back at the first house where she checked for Vera, she realizes the collar at the end of the chain wasn’t a regular dog collar. It didn’t buckle. And it had been cut in two. You would need pliers to remove the chain attached to the collar. “And the dried shit in the corner,” she realizes, “was human.”