An Abundance of Katherines Chapter 18 Summary

  • That night Colin sleeps through the rooster, and only wakes up when Lindsey jumps on the bed telling him they're going to Memphis to spy on Hollis.
  • They figure out directions and head out. Colin notices that Hassan is already over Katrina, and Lindsey is over TOC, but he takes forever to get over Katherines.
  • Even though he doesn't really want to be with K-19 anymore, he wants her to call.
  • When they get to their supposed location, they're all a bit confused—they don't really know what's there, or what Hollis would be doing there.
  • They see a guy with a bulldozer and a forklift putting stuff in a big hole. When Colin gets close, he asks the guy if he works for Gutshot Textiles.
  • Sure enough, he does—but he doesn't want to answer any questions about what he's throwing down in the hole.
  • Colin goes to grab what's in the box, and a bunch fall out: tampon strings here, there, and everywhere.
  • Lindsey comes up to the guy and asks him what he's doing, and the guy says she looks just like her mom before introducing himself as Roy. (Hey, wasn't Hollis on the phone with a Roy?)
  • But even with Lindsey there, Roy doesn't want to answer any questions; he tells Lindsey to ask her mom what's happening.
  • She's really confused, and chats with Colin and Hassan about what's happening, but none of them can figure out what to make of it.
  • Then Hollis shows up. She fills Lindsey in: Roy is throwing away boxes of their tampon strings because no one is buying the product any more, but Hollis wants to keep running the factory so people have jobs. Without the factory, Gutshot will die, so she's got Roy dumping the tampon strings so no one at the factory suspects anything.
  • That's why Hollis wanted the boys to go around asking people about the factory and why it's important. Years from now, there'll be no factory, and Hollis wants there to be a record of it somewhere.
  • Lindsey feels all kinds of emotions at once. She's angry that her mom didn't tell her sooner, shocked about what's happening, sad they're losing the product and factory. Oh—and she's kind of impressed that her mom is working so hard to keep jobs for people alive.
  • She rides back with her mom and the boys go together. While they're driving, Hassan says he never does anything and that he's lazy.
  • Colin reminds him that he just registered for two college classes, though, and Hassan responds by saying maybe he should register for one more.