49 pages 1 hour read

Russell Banks

Rule of the Bone

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1995

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Chapters 19-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 19 Summary: “Second Thoughts”

Bone spends the next few weeks busy with the marijuana harvest and has no time to really process what happened to him during his vision. He and the others harvest the crop, bale it, and haul it to a small airstrip in the mountains, where they will be met by an airplane piloted by a man they call Nighthawk. While they work, they talk about what they will do with the profits, and Bone decides to live like I-Man: He will behave the same way no matter how much or how little he has.

When Nighthawk arrives, they load the plane, but there’s an argument; Nighthawk doesn’t have payment, and he insists the group will be paid soon. I-Man doesn’t seem too concerned, as this kind of thing has happened before. Instead, he takes Bone back to Montego Bay to try their old idea of Bone selling marijuana to the tourists. Bone spends the day gathering clients, then returns home to the compound in the midafternoon.

When he arrives, something is wrong. The compound is quiet, and as he’s wandering around in backrooms looking for someone, Bone encounters Nighthawk and Jason (who hangs around Starport) along with an American.