- Stanley heads straight for the shower after digging his hole. He goes to the rec room, where the other boys are already gathered, exhausted from their day. Everything in the rec room (or "Wreck Room," as it says on the door) is broken.
- Stanley trips over a large boy's foot, and the boy, offended, challenges him. But X-Ray and Armpit come to Stanley's defense: they give him the nickname "Caveman" and tease him about how tough it was to dig the hole. (If that's defending him, we wonder what bullying looks like.)
- The boys notice the stationery that Stanley has brought with him to the wreck room, and they laugh when he tells them he's going to write to his mother. (We, on the other hand, think it's sweet.)
- Stanley starts writing to his mother, making it sound as if the camp is a fun place to be.
- He suddenly realizes that Zero is reading over his shoulder. Zero looks "serious, almost angry" (9.47) and asks if Clyde Livingston's shoes had red X's on them.
- Huh? They did. Stanley is puzzled (so are we): how does Zero know that?