Summary

Chapter 14 opens with Truman struggling to write. As he strains to come up with something, he recalls a memory from when he was a child, playing by the river with Nelle. At the river, he sees a snake approach him, and he recalls the advice to “stay put,” debating whether the advice came from a book or perhaps from his Daddy. Truman is bitten by the snake and he is brought back to town where the wound is taken care of by his cousin Sook, smearing chicken blood over it. As he recalls this memory, Truman feels as though the venom is in his body, but he realizes looking at himself that “he’s he thing with the poison” (238).

Truman then remembers his time with Babe in Marrakech. Babe confesses to Truman that she has decided that he is the only person in...