The Round House: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

When Cappy and Joe reach the oak tree, they turn and look down at Linden’s body. Cappy drops to his knees and touches his head to the ground. After a few minutes the boys fill the hole where the gun was buried. Then, Joe and Cappy go to Cappy’s house to figure out where to hide the rifle. Once they get there, Cappy grabs the keys to Randall’s old car and they put the gun in the trunk. After some difficulty, Cappy starts the car and they drive to Linda’s house.

When they arrive at Linda’s house, no one is home. The boys hide the gun under Linda’s front porch and then get back in the car and drive to Joe’s house. Cappy pulls over to let Joe out on the road to his house when they see the tribal police car drive by with its lights going. The boys feel certain that Linden is dead, since no sirens are on. As the boys sit in the idling car, Joe tells Cappy that he saved him, and Cappy denies it. Joe clarifies that Linden’s death was on himself, not Cappy, and Cappy agrees half-heartedly. Joe starts to choke up and tells Cappy that they can never talk about it again. Cappy agrees.

The boys, wanting to get drunk, decide to meet at Whitey’s gas station after Cappy drops the car off. After Cappy drives away, Joe walks to the station and finds Whitey standing in the doorway of the garage. He brings Joe, who is feeling sick, soda and bread to settle his stomach. Whitey then tells Joe that someone killed Linden on the golf course. Joe leaps up, runs to the back of the gas station and vomits.

When Joe comes back, he says that he has the summer flu. Whitey continues to talk about Linden’s murder, saying that there is no evidence because of the rain. Whitey then tells Joe that Sonja had called to say she was coming home, and that, after everything, he’s still in love with her. Joe then goes and lies down on the cot in the gas station office for a half hour. After resting, he asks Whitey for a sandwich. Just as Whitey finishes making the sandwiches, Cappy arrives, and the three of them sit outside and eat. Whitey gives the boys a bottle of liquor, telling them to drink it in the back, before leaving to pump gas.

As the boys head out back, Cappy asks Joe if Whitey knows they killed Linden. Joe says that he thinks so, since he threw up after Whitey told him about Linden’s death. Cappy says that he also threw up, and Joe and Cappy try to smile, but they are too upset. Joe and Cappy drink from Whitey’s bottle until they finish all of it. Afterward, the boys lay down on the ground and Joe asks Cappy why he went to the overlook that morning. Cappy tells Joe that he was there every morning because he always “had [Joe’s] back.” The boys fall asleep.

When Joe and Cappy wake up, Whitey tells them to eat another sandwich and to touch the whiskey bottle again. He also makes them give him their shirts. Afterward, Joe and Cappy walk to their respective homes. When Joe arrives, Geraldine asks him where he has been, and Joe says that he was running and then went to Whitey’s. Joe can tell that Geraldine and Bazil very badly want to believe him.

Bazil tells Joe to sit down and says that Linden is dead. Joe says he thinks that’s good. Bazil asks Joe if he knows anything about it, and Joe, who practiced his response to this question, responds “childishly,” “the way the old Joe…would answer.” Joe tells Bazil that he is happy that Linden is dead and that he deserved it. Geraldine looks at Joe in a way that makes Joe think that she believes he is the murderer. Joe goes upstairs and thinks about his mother and his crime, feeling that there is no going back on what he has done and the consequences.

During the next week, Joe actually does contract the flu. During the police investigation, Whitey attests to Joe and Cappy’s presence at the gas station on the morning of the murder, saying that Joe and Cappy had found his booze. Whitey shows them all the evidence: their shirts, the bottle with fingerprints, etc. While Joe is sick in bed, he worries about the possibility of someone finding the rifle. In his feverish state, he thinks that after killing Linden he might become a wiindigoo himself. Joe thinks back to when he was pulling trees out of the yard a few months before, and remembers how happy and ignorant he was. Joe asks his father if Linda knows about Linden’s death, and Bazil says that he has not been able to get in touch with her. Joe falls asleep and wakes up later feeling much better. He then dresses and goes downstairs to watch his mother garden. Geraldine stops what she’s doing to feel his forehead, then proclaims that his fever is gone. Geraldine wants Joe to stay home, but he insists on going out to see Angus and Cappy.

Joe sees an empty pickle jar in the kitchen and he freezes, remembering that he had brought a pickle jar of water with him to the overlook and had forgotten it there. Geraldine sees Joe looking at it and explains that Vince Madwesin, the tribal policeman, came by and gave her the jar and told her to wash it out. Geraldine looks at Joe and says she is worried about him. They both say “I love you,” and then Joe asks if Geraldine is better now that Linden is dead. Geraldine tries to persuade Joe that the answer to that question is yes. After this conversation with his mother, Joe gets on his bike and rides away.

First Joe rides to the post office. The other postal workers tell Joe that Linda has taken sick leave, so Joe goes to Linda’s house. There Linda invites Joe into the kitchen, where she offers him a fried egg sandwich. While she fries the eggs, Joe looks at her apartment. As they both eat, Linda asks if it is morally wrong to enjoy a sandwich when her twin brother is dead, though she does not seem too concerned. She tells Joe that she did not take time off work to mourn Linden, but for “other reasons,” which she will tell Joe about if he tells her why he came to see her. As Joe puts down his sandwich, Linda says he should finish eating before they talk.

Once they finish their sandwiches, Linda tells Joe that she realizes that he got his information about the golf course from her, leading to Linden’s murder. Linda, however, tells him that she thinks Joe was not actually the murderer and that he told someone older about the golf course so they could shoot him. Linda asks Joe why he came to see her again. Joe asks if he can trust her, and Linda says that, if he has to ask her that, the answer is no. Linda then leans in and tells Joe that she would do “anything in the world” for his family, and then asks him again why he came to see her.

Joe surprises both Linda and himself by asking why Linden raped Geraldine. Linda replies that Linden hated Joe’s entire family, but proceeds to say that the attack was really about Linden’s obsession with Mayla. When Geraldine filed Mayla’s daughter’s tribal enrollment form, Mayla named Curtis Yeltow, not Linden, as the father. This meant that Mayla had gotten pregnant while she was working for Yeltow as a high schooler. Yeltow paid Mayla to keep the baby a secret, but Mayla insisted on enrolling her in the tribe. Linden, who also had worked for Yeltow, was infatuated with Mayla and tried to convince her to run away with him with the money Yeltow had given her, but Mayla instead filed for her daughter’s enrollment.

Linda imagines that Linden wanted to find the enrollment form in order to blackmail Yeltow, and that Geraldine would not give it to him. Linda says that Linden raping Geraldine had more to do with his inner evil, his “monster,” than with any rational intention. Linda talks about how she recognized this evil in Linden when she met him at the hospital, and how she thinks that what corrupted both Linden and their mother Grace was Linda’s absence from their lives after her abandonment. Linda also hypothesizes that Linden kept hanging around the reservation to make sure that no one found Mayla’s body.

Joe suddenly is filled with dread, and he asks Linda if he (Joe) is “like” Linden. Linda tells him that while the murder will get to him—or “whoever” (Linda backtracks, still pretending that she does not think that Joe killed him)—he can’t let it wreck him. Linda then tells Joe that she should have shot Linden. Joe finally tells Linda that the rifle used to kill Linden is hidden under her porch. Joe asks if she can get rid of it, and Linda smiles. She explains that her dog already found it. When Joe starts to panic, Linda tells him not to worry, stating that she took a sick day in order to get rid of the rifle, which she disassembled with the help of her adopted brother. The two of them then threw it into the Missouri river.

Lastly, Linda tells Joe to tell “whoever did it” to “rest easy.” Linda then changes the subject and asks how Geraldine is doing. Joe says that his mother said she was fine, but she seemed a little too insistent. Linda pulls a black screw out of her pocket, saying that she wants to give it to Geraldine. Joe puts it in his pocket, takes a loaf of Linda’s banana bread, and heads home. When he is halfway home, he realizes that the screw is from the rifle, so he throws it in a ditch.

The narrative jumps forward to Joe, Angus, Cappy, and Zack hanging out together at the edge of the construction site on the reservation one afternoon. The boys drink whiskey and beer and take valium. Cappy swallows a pill and takes out a photo of Zelia and holds it to his forehead, then tells the photo “I miss you too, baby.” Joe says their love is beautiful, and Cappy hands him a letter that Zelia wrote to him about the rapture. Joe reads it slowly in his drunk and high state as Cappy explains that the rapture is a religious doomsday prophecy where the good are transported to heaven, and that Zelia’s family is thinking of converting because of it. Angus says of the rapture “I don’t think you’ll make it, you two,” because of their “mortal stain.” Joe assumes that Angus is talking to him and Cappy, and that he is referring to Linden’s murder. Cappy tells Angus that none of them will go to heaven since they drink and do drugs.

Zack tells them that they don’t need the rapture anyway, since they have confession. The boys then reminisce about how Father Travis chased Cappy around after his confession about having sex with Zelia. Joe brings up the possibly of Zelia having gotten pregnant, and Cappy says that he wished she had so they could get married. Joe reminds him that he is thirteen, and Cappy reminds Joe that so were Romeo and Juliet.

Joe suggests that they get food, but Zack, Cappy, and Angus have fallen asleep. After a while, Joe hears someone crying and realizes that Cappy is sobbing in his sleep. Joe leaves the other boys where they’re sleeping and rides his bike home, then falls asleep in the bushes in front of his house. Joe wakes up again after sunset and goes into his kitchen. Geraldine calls into the kitchen from the other room to ask where Joe has been and to tell him that he missed dinner. Joe says that he was biking. He takes a container of spaghetti from the fridge and eats it out of the container.

Geraldine tells Joe to put the spaghetti on a plate, then she asks if he was smoking cigarettes. Joe assures her that the other boys were, but not him. Geraldine sits down and tells Joe that he yelled Cappy’s name twice in his sleep the previous night. Joe thinks about Cappy crying in his sleep and feels guilty for having left him and the others at the construction site. Bazil comes out of his study and sits down at the table with Geraldine and Joe. Joe is still thinking about Cappy while Geraldine holds Bazil’s hand and Bazil touches Geraldine’s wedding ring. As Joe watches their loving gesture, he gets angry and feels that they have switched roles, and he is now the adult and they are the children. They have no idea, Joe thinks, what he and Cappy did for them.

Bazil addresses Joe and brings up Linden’s death, saying that he was at first felt relieved to know that Linden was no longer a safety threat. Joe tries to get up from the table, but Bazil keeps speaking, saying that there’s still the question of who killed Linden. Joe says that Linden got what he deserved, and Bazil agrees. Bazil then tells Joe that Bjerke, the FBI agent, will interview them tomorrow to get their alibis.

Bazil says that he thought about what he, as a judge, would say if he knew anything about the murderer’s identity. He tells Joe that he ultimately decided that he would not say anything, because there are “many kinds of justice,” including both “ideal justice” and “best-we-can-do-justice.” Bazil comforts himself with knowing that Linden was unquestionably guilty and that it resolves a legal problem created by the questions of land jurisdiction. Bazil decides to say nothing, since the murderer will have to live with the emotional burden of murder, and he even resolves to protect anyone who would be prosecuted for killing Linden. When Joe expresses confusion at this, Bazil tells him that he could plausibly argue as a judge that Linden met the definition of a wiindigoo, and that killing him fulfilled a law that predates the United States Government’s legal system. Joe looks at both of his parents and then thinks about the books in Bazil’s study “as if they could help” the three of them. However, Joe thinks, they are now way past the domain of stories and books. Joe thinks that, although Bazil’s words are a relief, he is also wrong about them being safe from Linden, because he haunts Joe and Cappy’s dreams.

There is a break in the narrative as Joe describes the two dreams he has after the murder: one in which he and Cappy are at the golf course and they shoot Linden, but then Joe and Linden switch bodies and Joe’s spirit is the one dying, while Linden’s spirit in Joe’s body runs up the hill with Cappy. Joe knows that Linden will kill Cappy, but he dies before he can warn him. In the second dream, the ghost Joe saw out his window leans over him and talks to him. Joe says that he knows that the ghost is “the police.”

Several nights later, Joe wakes up again as he’s shouting Cappy’s name. Joe get up and looks around the hallway, hoping no one has heard him. When he sees that no one else is upstairs, he lies down and tries to calm himself. Out loud, Joe says that he needs Ojibwe medicine. Joe would like to talk to Mooshum about it, but Mooshum is now so old that he’s hardly conscious. Joe thinks he could go see Grandma Thunder instead, but Joe then thinks of Bugger Pourier and remembers the last time he saw Bugger, when Bugger stole his bike outside of the diner where Joe was talking with Linda. Bugger had told Joe that he had seen something strange and was unsure whether it was a dream.

Joe decides to look for Bugger to ask what he saw. At the post office, Linda tells Joe that Bugger is in the hospital due to a foot injury. Joe rides his bike to the hospital, where Bugger is excited to see Joe, but disappointed that Joe has not brought him anything. Bugger explains that he has a craving for pancakes. Joe reminds Bugger of when Bugger stole his bike and, as Bugger begins to remember that day, Joe sees a look of terror on Bugger’s face as he exclaims “poor girl!”, sobs, and mumbles about the construction site. Joe realizes that Bugger must have stumbled upon Mayla’s body in the construction site and that even if he and Cappy had not killed Linden, Linden would go to jail for murdering Mayla as soon as the body was found. Joe wants to tell the police about the location of Mayla’s corpse, but he worries that they will then begin to suspect his involvement in Linden’s death. Joe thinks how different everything would be if he had asked Bugger earlier about his dream.

Joe decides to find Cappy and get drunk. As he rides toward the Lafournais house, he sees Zack and Angus in the grocery store parking lot, sitting in Zack’s cousin’s car. They tell Joe that Cappy has gone into the post office to get a letter from Zelia. Joe goes inside and finds Cappy sitting in the back, looking downtrodden and smoking. Cappy hands Joe a letter from Zelia’s parents saying that they had found Cappy’s letters and that Cappy is no longer allowed to speak to Zelia or they will sue. Cappy is upset and asks why Zelia’s parents think that he would ever wreck Zelia’s life, as the letter said, when he loves her so much and they were made for each other by God. Cappy sets the letter on fire with his cigarette and then tells Joe that he is going to get some money and Randall’s car and then he will pick Joe up from his house so they can go find Zelia.

Joe and Cappy say goodbye to Zack and Angus and then each go home. Joe packs a bag of clothing, money, and a dozen sandwiches. As Joe waits for Cappy to show up, he goes into Bazil’s office and looks in his desk drawers, where he finds a manila folder. Inside, Joe sees Mayla’s enrollment form for her daughter, with Curtis Yeltow listed as the father. Joe puts it back. Then he writes a note to his parents telling them that he is going on a camping trip with Cappy for a few days.

Angus and Zack show up at Joe’s house and Joe tells them that Cappy is going to pick them up in Randall’s car. Cappy then pulls into Joe’s driveway, and the boys pile in. Zack asks where they are going, and Cappy says “Montana.” Joe and the other boys drive on the highway, stopping twice to fill up on gas and again at a liquor store to buy beer. Zack, who brought his guitar, plays and sings in the back. At a gas station, Zack and Angus call home to say where they’ve gone. The car struggles to start after one stop, so the boys push it down a hill and jump in while it’s rolling. At night, Zack and Angus fall asleep, but Joe and Cappy stay up in the front seats talking.

Joe tells Cappy about finding Mayla’s file in Bazil’s desk and how Mayla’s baby’s father was Curtis Yeltow. Joe surmises that Mayla stored the money that Yeltow had given her in her daughter’s doll, which Joe later found. Joe guesses that Yeltow will get in trouble for his affair with Mayla, an underage girl, but, in retrospect, Joe states that Yeltow never did. As they drive, Joe thinks about the round house and the story of Nanapush. Joe suggests that they drive all night, so they keep going, switching drivers on and off. During his off-shift, Joe falls asleep in the back while the boys talk and drink.

Joe is jolted awake as the car hurtles off the road, flips, and lands in a field. Joe opens his eyes and calls for Cappy, but he receives no answer. Joe unbuckles himself and crawls out of the car. He hears Angus and Zack making noise and getting up. Joe searches the car for Cappy and when he cannot find him, Joe thinks that Cappy must have gone to get help. Joe gets on his hands and knees and crawls through the grass. When he finds Cappy’s body, he cries out.

After the accident, Joe sits in the police station while Zack and Angus are in the hospital. Cappy’s body is in a funeral home. Joe remembers how, when he found Cappy, Joe held him and felt the ghost that he saw outside his window shake him. The ghost, who was actually a police officer, mouthed the words “let go” to Joe, but he refused. In the police station, Joe falls asleep and wakes up again in his chair. He looks over and over again at the stone that Cappy gave him. Eventually, Geraldine and Bazil walk in, looking old, Joe thinks. Joe himself feels old. They get in the car and start driving home.

No one speaks on the drive back and Joe knows that his parents know everything that happened already. Geraldine and Bazil switch driving on and off. On the way back they pass a café that they used to stop at on road trips when Joe was a child to get ice cream. This time, however, they do not stop, passing by “in a sweep of sorrow that would persist into [their] small forever.”