Summary

Chapter Twenty-Two begins with a description of how Jack felt he could not wait a day before moving on because Maia was in such bad shape. So he paddles, saving the motor and the battery for later, more difficult water. He pays little or no attention to the woods around him or the wildlife. He wills Maia to breathe, and wills himself to pay no real attention to Wynn, “in the front of the boat as if sleeping” (232). The narration describes how, as Jack paddled and “his hands and arms went numb, [his mind] untethered …” (232-233).

The narration then shifts focus and moves into a flashback to the day of the funeral of Jack’s mother. He wakes early, dresses, goes out to the field, and finds the horse his mother was riding that day. The horse is injured, but healing. Jack stands...