Summary

At their house on Emerald Isle, David plays Sorry! with some of his family. Playing the game is one of his favorite activities at the beach house as it is one of the only times when his niece Madelyn will open up. Another thing he loves is sitting in the sun and "the lazy kind of talk it generates" (163). A key difference between David's family and Hugh's is in the way they will listen to a story. Hugh's mother often interrupts to accuse the storyteller of exaggerating or to defend someone's bad behavior. David's family, on the other hand, "is always happy to hear about how horrible someone is" (164-165).

This summer, David's goal is to find the snapping turtle he met the previous summer and feed him his lipoma but his plans are ruined when he finds out that turtle has died. Not...