The Round House: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Linda arrives at the house and Bazil lets her in. Joe, who has sorted out his feelings toward Linda, decides he resents her because Linden is alive thanks to her kidney donation. Joe takes Pearl out to play in order to avoid her, but he later finds out that Linda gave Bazil information on Linden that provoked Bazil take extra steps to keep Geraldine safe, like accompanying her to her office. When they need groceries later that week, Bazil and Joe go instead of Geraldine.

Together, Bazil and Joe pick up the things on Geraldine’s grocery list. As they turn into the meat aisle, Bazil and Joe see Linden Lark looking in one of the cases. Bazil throws the carton of cream he is holding and attacks Linden, trying to choke him and knocking him down. As Linden struggles underneath Bazil, Linden appears to be smiling. Joe smashes a can on Linden’s forehead. Bazil lets go of Linden’s throat and Linden pushes him off and runs away.

Bazil then has a heart attack; he lies on the floor of the grocery aisle and struggles to breathe. Joe calls an ambulance and Joe rides with him to the hospital. Joe and Geraldine stay in Fargo while Bazil has surgery and recovers in the Fargo hospital. At night, Geraldine and Joe sleep in a hotel room. Geraldine sleeps in Bazil’s bathroom, and Joe wishes that he had something of Bazil’s to wear too, so Geraldine gives Joe a shirt she packed for Bazil. Joe talks about how, as an adult, Joe still has many of his father’s shirts.

The second-to-last day that they are in Fargo, Geraldine goes to get coffee and Bazil asks Joe about Linden’s whereabouts. Joe doesn’t know, but later that night, while Geraldine is out of the room, Cappy calls Joe and tells him that some of his family (Joe presumes Doe, Randall, and Whitey) “paid a visit” to Linden and “messed him up good.” Geraldine comes back, and then the phone rings again. Geraldine picks up and asks if something is wrong at the office. When she hangs up, she curls up on the bed and doesn’t respond when Joe says her name. Finally, Geraldine says that Bazil’s secretary, Opichi, called to say that Linden got beat up. Afterward, he drove to Whitey’s gas station and antagonized him about the fact that Sonja, his “rich” girlfriend, left him.

Geraldine is confused about why Linden would call Sonja “rich.” Joe, upset, puts a pillow over his head. They lie there a while, then go to a diner. As they eat, Geraldine has a thought that disturbs her, and she wonders to Joe whether Linden is a wiindigoo that is trying to eat all of them. Geraldine promises to stop him and then finishes all her food for the first time since the attack. After dinner they go back to the hotel and go to bed, but Joe lies awake, afraid that Linden will kill Geraldine if she tries to find him.

Joe wakes up early on the rainy day they leave Fargo. Geraldine, Bazil, and Joe drive home peacefully, with Joe dozing in the backseat. As Joe enjoys the ride, observing his parents’ comfortable intimacy, he has a thought that unnerves him (which turns out to be the idea that he has to kill Linden Lark). When they get back to their house, Joe thinks back on the fight in the grocery store and imagines himself killing Linden. Joe decides to visit Father Travis the next morning under the guise of wanting to join catechism class, but really hoping the priest will teach him to shoot, since Father Travis is well known for shooting gophers.

Joe describes how many people on the reservation have experience with Catholicism because of boarding school, and many, like Clemence, are actively devout. On Saturday, Joe sits with Bugger Pourier, an alcoholic and drifter, the only other person in the catechism class. Afterward, Joe asks Father Travis for personal instruction in order to be confirmed by the fall. Father Travis asks what the rush is, and Joe tells him he wants to be able to pray. Father Travis says he doesn’t need to be confirmed to pray. Joe then asks Father Travis what the sins that require vengeance are, and Father Travis lists a few, including sodomy, which Joe thinks includes rape. Joe thanks Father Travis and says goodbye.

On Sunday Joe goes to mass with Angus. Joe is the only one who stays for catechism class afterward. Father Travis gives Joe a book called Dune and they review some catechism basics. Father Travis suggests that they do the class outside, so they go for a walk and Father Travis explains more Catholic ideology. Father Travis asks about the state of Joe’s soul and Joe suggests that they shoot gophers. Father Travis then starts to talk about evil, saying that there are different kinds of evil, material (like poverty) and moral (when human beings cause intentional pain). Father Travis tells Joe that God gave people free will, so he cannot intervene too often. What God can do, however, is make good out of evil. Joe panics internally and Father Travis continues expounding on moral evil. Joe suggests again that they shoot gophers, and Father Travis states that they won’t be doing that.

Later, Joe rides his bike to the Lafournais house, where he finds Cappy weight lifting. Cappy stops exercising and pulls out a joint and beer. The boys leave Cappy’s house and go up to a hill overlooking the golf course to smoke and drink. As they watch the golfers, Cappy asks Joe why he went to mass. Joe tries to tell Cappy that he needs spiritual help, but Cappy doesn’t buy it. Joe tells Cappy that he needed to practice shooting, but that Father Travis had not helped him. Cappy say that if he wants to learn to shoot he should have come to him, since Cappy has been hunting since childhood.

Joe hints that he is not just planning on shooting gophers, and Cappy understands that Joe intends to kill Linden Lark. Joe explains that he would not want to implicate anyone else, but Cappy insists he wants to help. Cappy tells Joe that they could take Doe’s rifle out to practice, but Joe is afraid of implicating the Lafournais family. Cappy proposes that they stage a house robbery so that Joe can use the gun to kill Linden without anyone suspecting anything, but still Joe says no. Joe and Cappy then notice that they could be looking for Linden from their overlook, since Linden is a golfer.

Joe and Cappy ride back to Cappy’s house to practice shooting. The boys set up cans on a fence and shoot them off over and over again. Cappy hits the cans easily, but Joe misses every shot. Joe surmises that he is the worst shot on the reservation. Joe tries shooting the cans with both eyes closed and fares marginally better. Cappy suggests that they practice somewhere more remote, but the boys are out of ammo.

Eventually, Joe, who has a strict curfew, has to go home. He plans to use some of the money Sonja gave him to buy more ammo alone, but he needs a ride to the ammo store. Joe asks Geraldine to take him to the shoe store, and then Joe makes an excuse to go into the sporting goods store while she waits outside. Joe buys forty dollars worth of ammo and a spinner for bass fishing (to pretend it was his reason for going into the store). Joe feels guilty for his deceit but he tells himself that his lies are for the sake of justice.

Joe thinks how his mother, even though she is doing reasonably better, has changed since her attack. Geraldine is jumpy and she now treats Joe more like an adult than she did previously. Joe thinks that she acts like he no longer needs her, when, in fact, he does. In the car on the way home, Joe asks his mother why she did not lie about where the rape had happened so that they could prosecute Linden. Geraldine says she isn’t sure, but that she wishes she had lied and it’s too late now to change her story. Joe understands, but he secretly still wishes that she had lied so that they could put Linden in jail and Joe wouldn’t have to be the one lying about buying ammo.

Joe tries not to face the entire reality of what he is about to do because he finds it overwhelming. He realizes that the next step is to talk to Linda and find out Linden’s golf schedule. Three days later, Joe goes to the post office where Linda works, and gives Linda a bag of bananas to make banana bread. Linda is touched. Joe leaves, biding his time so his politeness is not suspicious. The next day around five o’clock, Linda pulls into the driveway. Geraldine opens the door and accepts banana bread from Linda, then invites her into the living room. Linda gives another loaf to Joe and talks with Bazil about the weather. Geraldine goes into the kitchen to make tea, leaving Joe, Bazil, and Linda alone. Joe falls fast asleep and wakes up later, having missed dinner. He thinks intensely about the murder he is preparing to commit and lets out a sob, terrified, and then lies on the floor. After about a half hour he gets up and goes to bed, feeling stronger than he did before.

Joe orchestrates running into Linda during her lunch. He goes to the sandwich bar that Linda frequents daily, checking for Linda, and on the third day he sees Linda walk in. Joe follows her in and sits down. When Linda notices Joe, she invites him to sit with her. Linda orders two shrimp baskets. Joe asks if Linda always gets the shrimp (the most expensive item on the menu), so Linda explains that it is her birthday. Joe wishes Linda happy birthday, and then, trying to steer the conversation toward Linden, says that he thought that Linda was born in the winter.

Linda explains that she decided to celebrate the day that Betty was given custody of her after she was taken away by social workers for the second time, rather than celebrate her date of birth. The shrimp arrives and Joe forgets that he had decided to hate Linda because, in fact, he really likes her. Unexpectedly, Linda tells Joe that she is sorry she saved Linden. She then says that Linden left her a voicemail saying that he was going to become rich. Joe immediately thinks of Sonja and worries that Linden is going after her, but calms down after realizing that Sonja can hold her own. Joe and Linda finally eat. Joe, unnerved by talk of Linden, tries to change the subject to the weather, but Linda doesn’t seem interested in talking about it.

Joe then asks Linda if Linden plays golf, and Linda looks at Joe and blinks. Joe, thinking fast, tells Linda that he wants to know so that Bazil can avoid Linden if he ever wants to go golfing. Linda tells Joe that Linden usually golfs around seven am, and proposes to talk to Bazil about it. Joe empathically says no and tells her he wanted to surprise Bazil with a father-son golf outing. Joe eats the rest of his food quickly, knowing he has the information he needs.

Joe looks out the window and sees Bugger Pourier stealing his bicycle. He excuses himself from Linda’s company and catches up to Bugger, then walks beside him while Bugger rides. After a while, Joe asks for his bike back. Bugger tells him that he needs it to go investigate something he saw that he thought might have been a dream, but Joe convinces Bugger to stop by Grandma Ignatia’s house for food, where Bugger returns the bike. Joe then rides to Cappy’s house, where he boys had planned to practice shooting, but when he arrives Randall is at the house, wearing full powwow regalia to prepare for the annual summer powwow.

Cappy suggests that they look for rocks for Randall’s sweat lodge, so Cappy and Joe go out into the woods with a plastic sled and collect large stones. As they work, Joe tells Cappy about his conversation with Linda about Linden’s golf habits. Cappy tells Joe that they have to start putting Joe’s plan to action, saying that Joe should take Doe’s rifle during the powwow that weekend. Joe feels horribly guilty at the idea of stealing from Doe, but he knows Cappy is right. Cappy tells him that the safest time would be on Saturday night, since both Doe and Randall will be busy at the powwow. He tells Joe to make a mess so it looks like a break in, hide the gun at the golf course overlook behind an oak tree, and then return to the powwow grounds to camp with Cappy’s family.

For the rest of the week, Joe feels sick from the shrimp he ate with Linda. While he is resting in bed, he tries to read Dune, the book that Father Travis gave him, but instead ends up flinging it across the room. A long time later, Joe says, he ended up reading the book repeatedly. The week passes and then it is powwow weekend. Joe goes with Randall and Cappy to the powwow grounds and helps set up in the family’s usual spot. They dig a fire pit and place lawn chairs and set out coolers of food and drinks. When the powwow starts, Doe, as the MC, welcomes the crowd, makes bad jokes, and reminds the dancers of the time of the Grand Entry contest.

People start to fill the bleachers to watch the dances. Cappy and Joe set up a tent for Randall to prep himself in, and Cappy teases Randall as he dresses and paints his face. Randall, Joe, and Cappy exit the tent and observe as a girl watches Randall stretch, smitten. Randall farts while stretching and the girl laughs. Cappy and Joe then go find Angus and Zack. The four boys walk to the food stands and buy frybread. Several girls from their school approach them to flirt with Cappy. Joe observes how effortlessly Cappy attracts the girls, asking them about their lives as they walk around. Inside the arena, the Grand Entry dancers line up to dance and Joe, realizing it is time, heads to the Lafournais house to steal Doe’s gun.

When Joe arrives at the house, he waits until dark, then puts on gloves and walks to the front door with the crowbar that Cappy left out for him. Joe enters and walks to the gun cabinet, where he shatters the glass and takes out the gun. He then puts ammo in his backpack, scatters Doe’s toolbox, and adjusts the TV so it looks like he tried to steal it. Joe walks out and takes a path to the overlook, where he and Cappy had already dug a hole. Joe buries the gun and the ammo and then walks back to the powwow. When Joe gets back, Cappy is in the tent alone. Joe tells Cappy that everything went smoothly. As they lie there, Joe thinks about Doe arriving home to discover that the house was broken into, and he feels intensely guilty.

The next morning, Joe and Cappy wake up at the campground and eat breakfast that Cappy’s relatives Suzette and Josey make for them. Suzette and Josey feed Joe and Cappy all day and then go prepare for the Grand Entry. Suzette and Josey take their clothing seriously, emerging from their RV with braided hair and perfect clothes. They join the rest of the dancers, moving with grace. Doe makes jokes over the loudspeaker.

Randall approaches Joe and Cappy as they watch the dancers and informs them that the house was broken and the rifle was stolen. Randall thinks it was strange that the dogs did not fend off the intruders, and Joe and Cappy pretend to agree. Joe feels extremely guilty. Randall tells them that he is going to sleep at home that night with his shotgun to fend off any more burglars. Then Randall walks off. Cappy compliments Joe’s work stealing the gun and tells him that Doe would understand why he did it. Joe tells Cappy firmly that he is carrying out the rest of the plan, emphasizing that he is about to commit murder, even though it’s for justice. Cappy implies that Joe is not a good enough shot to do it alone and insists that he should be there to steady Joe’s aim. Joe agrees, but secretly intends not to tell Cappy when he will carry out the plan.

The next week, Joe wakes up at sunrise and tells his parents he is going for a run. Joe takes an empty pickle jar full of water and the stone that Cappy gave him to the overlook and digs up the ammo and the rifle. Joe loads the rifle and brings it to the oak tree, where he has a clear view of the golf course. Joe waits to see if Linden shows up for hours, but Linden never does, so Joe buries the rifle again and goes home. Joe, relieved of his burden for the day, is ecstatic. He talks with Geraldine and then goes upstairs and takes a nap. When he wakes he feels dread, knowing that he will have to try to kill Linden the next day, but when he remembers seeing his mother after her attack he has a renewed sense of purpose. Joe goes back to the overlook the next two days, but Linden doesn’t show.

On Thursday Joe goes to the overlook again, even though it is raining. After an hour, Linden shows up. Joe walks down the hill and finds a spot to stand where he can see Linden. Joe removes the rifle’s safety, holds the gun as he was taught, and takes aim. Linden taps his ball into the hole and Joe shoots as Linden walks toward the ball, hitting him in the stomach. Linden collapses and Joe lowers the rifle. Linden begins to scream. Joe reloads the rifle and shoots at Linden again, but misses entirely, then freezes. Linden starts to get up and Joe begins to panic when Cappy appears, takes the rifle from Joe, and shoots Linden dead. Cappy picks up the ejected casings and leads Joe up the hill away from Linden’s body.