- The next day, the boys are back to digging their own holes in a whole new part of the dried-out lake. The Warden is no longer coming to supervise the digging, which is a good thing, we guess.
- Stanley's head is still hurting from when he got whacked with a shovel (duh). His body, though, has grown strong from all the weeks of digging: he's gotten better at digging holes, too, and finishes much more quickly than he used to. Practice makes perfect, right?
- When he gets back to camp, Stanley starts writing a letter to his mother. Just as in his last letter, he makes up fun, camp-like activities to tell her about. He doesn't want to worry Mom.
- Zero comes into the tent, but Stanley keeps writing his letter: he "didn't care what Zero thought. Zero was nobody" (18.7). (Sounds like Stanley's being a bit of a bully himself, don't you think?)
- Then little Zero tells Stanley that he doesn't know how to read and write, and asks Stanley to teach him. Our guy is surprised, but answers with a big, fat, whopping no.