Tuck Everlasting Chapter 19 Summary

  • Yellow Suit Guy says he's there for Winnie, but everyone's pretty sure something else is up. And Tuck gets pretty vocal about it, immediately.
  • The intruder announces he has something to tell them all. We bet you can guess what it is…
  • Oh wait, no. It's an overview of his family history.
  • He says that his grandmother had a friend with a strange story, and it's rather interesting that this friend's story matches the Tucks' history. Hmmm.
  • The Tucks and Winnie know that this friend must be Miles's wife; and Miles confirms this by mentioning his daughter's name.
  • Yellow Suit Guy continues on, explaining that he couldn't get his grandma's friend's story out of his mind. So what did he do? He spent his life researching it.
  • Of course, he didn't get any answers. One day, though, just by chance, he gave his grandma a music box, which turned out to be a piece of the puzzle. It reminded his grandma of Mae's music box.
  • Hearing this makes Mae reach for the place where she keeps the box.
  • Yellow Suit Guy says the tune from the original music box had been passed down through generations, and his own mom knew it well. So he relearned it. But that was two decades ago.
  • Over the summer, he started his search again. And by doing research, he was able to retrace the Tucks' steps.
  • When he heard Mae's music box just recently, he knew he'd hit the jackpot. Then he eavesdropped on Winnie's conversation with Mae, Jesse, and Miles and learned the whole story. Obviously, he's a lot less likely to keep their secret than Winnie is.
  • But wait, it gets worse. Yellow Suit Guy explains the deal he made with Winnie's family: now he owns the land.
  • And that means he owns the spring.
  • Uh oh.
  • He says he's going to turn the spring into a commercial enterprise, selling the water to whoever he wants.
  • Tuck tries to explain why this is a very bad idea, but the man just won't listen. Instead, he says the Tucks could earn some money by helping him show off the miraculous powers of the spring.
  • Not surprisingly, the Tucks aren't cool with this scheme.
  • This is when things get nasty. Yellow Suit Guy insults their way of life; Tuck tries to warn him one last time; YSG grabs Winnie, who struggles away; and then Mae gets out Tuck's shotgun.
  • Didn't see that one coming, huh?
  • Yellow Suit Guy grows even more threatening and violent, saying he's going to force Winnie to drink some water. Then she'll be his advertisement.
  • This pushes Mae over the edge. She yells some not-so-nice things and then tops it off by bashing his head with the shotgun's base.
  • Yikes.
  • Yellow Suit Guy crumples to the ground.
  • As luck would have it, the constable shows up just in time to witness Mae doing the deed.