Animal Dreams Chapter 20 Summary

Homero: The Scream

  • Doc is anticipating a delivery.
  • A baby delivery.
  • Doc remembers the pregnant girl's grandmother, and says she "disapproved of his family," implying that Homer Noline is indeed Homero of the Nolinas, and that he came from Grace.
  • Doc gets a phone call in Spanish that he thinks is about the labor—which is probably not actually happening in this time period, anyway.
  • The phone call is not actually about the labor; it's about the fact that Hallie has been kidnapped.
  • Oof.
  • While the woman is giving Doc the details, he's thinking about that time when Hallie hit a boy named Simon Bolivar Jones because he was calling her names after she did something he couldn't.
  • Doc thinks that's what this is about, and he tells the woman to let Hallie come home because she hasn't done anything but be brave.
  • Doc says it in Spanish, and the woman says she thinks they've taken Hallie to Honduras.
  • Doc remembers that it was Codi, not Hallie, who hit the boy.
  • Doc finally puts it together that Hallie has been kidnapped by contras, and he asks if there is something he can do, and whether the Ministry of Agriculture knows.
  • The woman says everyone knows, that it happens every day, just not usually to an American citizen. They think that if the President of the U.S. can be embarrassed publically, maybe he'll do something.
  • Doc tries to get her number, but the woman says not to bother—there's nothing they can do, and the President is the "responsible party" (20.19), so he is the one to call.