Hoot

In the evening, Delinko patrols the construction site on foot. He stumbles over an owl nest, and someone laughs at him. He searches by flashlight but sees no one. The raspy laughter continues. It comes from the owl nest. A baby owl looks up and chirps “Heh! Heh! Heh!” (232) Delinko is charmed by the tiny creature.

Hissing in protest, the baby’s parents fly overhead. Delinko backs away until the birds land and disappear into their burrow. He bumps into an earthmoving machine. He looks at it, then back at the owl burrow. He realizes he is protecting the machines that shortly will kill the owls.

At breakfast, Roy sees a newspaper ad for the Mother Paula’s groundbreaking on Wednesday. Upset, he borrows his mother’s camera, grabs his school pack, and runs to Beatrice’s house. They walk to the bus stop while she explains her recent absence. She chipped her tooth on a toe ring that Lonna had made from one of Beatrice’s mother’s finger rings. Beatrice objected to the theft, and she used her teeth to remove it from Lonna.

She says that, over the weekend, Mullet hid in the garage, waiting for some laundry, when Leon found him. They chatted amiably until Lonna showed up and had a temper tantrum, and Mullet took off. Leon wants the boy to resume living with them, “but Lonna says no way, José, he’s a bad seed” (238). That’s when Lonna and Leon got into a fight. On the bus, Roy tells Beatrice his plan to help Mullet.

At school, Hennepin grills Roy about Mullet’s trip to the hospital. Roy is tight-lipped. She warns him that school police may search for the truant. At lunch, Roy borrows Garrett’s bike and sneaks off campus to visit Mullet at the junkyard where he gives the boy his mother’s camera and begs him to get a shot of a burrowing owl, a picture that, by itself, can halt the construction because the birds are protected. Mullet refuses and kicks Roy out of his truck, saying, “I already caused enough trouble for you and my sister. This is my war from now on” (243). Still, he keeps the camera.

For current events in Mr. Ryan’s class, Roy presents the Mother Paula’s story and that the burrowing owls are a day away from being buried alive. He says he will attend the groundbreaking ceremony to protest on behalf of the birds. Mr. Ryan warns him not to skip school, but Roy says he will get a note from his parents. Mr. Ryan smiles: “That would be the way to do it” (248).

Tuesday evening, Delinko asks Curly what they should do about the owls. Curly says the corporation knows everything, and it is their business and none of his. Later, Curly hears a noise and Delinko investigates but sees nothing except a few brief flashes of a light, which he writes off as a reflection of heat lightning.

The next morning, Roy asks for a note to let him out of class for the groundbreaking. His father agrees to write it but warns him to “be smart.” At school, Beatrice produces a note from her father letting her attend the groundbreaking. She also gives Roy his mother’s camera saying Mullet dropped it off and that it contains the shots Roy requested.

At the construction site, Muckle arrives in a limo with Dixon. She badly needs to use the bathroom, so Dilenko, who is just getting off shift, leads them to the trailer. Muckle casually scolds both Curly and Delinko for their incompetence. They assure him that all is well now.

Dixon says the bathroom has a cockroach problem. Curly assures her that they are crickets, but he does not know where they came from. He fawns over the actress, who pats him on his bald head and asks the men to bring her suitcase so she can change into her Mother Paula costume.

City officials arrive at the construction site, followed by Roy and Beatrice. Students are there from Roy’s history class, several with their parents. Beatrice’s soccer team arrives in a school van. Just past noon, Curly, Delinko, Dixon, and Muckle emerge from the trailer and walk to a clearing. Dixon is dressed as Mother Paula. Roy thinks Muckle looks conceited.

With a megaphone, Muckle delivers a welcoming address and introduces the city officials. Muckle makes a joke about all the children here enjoying licorice pancakes, but nobody laughs. As TV cameras roll, gold-painted shovels get handed out, and the group of officials together dig up scoops of dirt.

Dixon gets the megaphone. She says she looks forward to returning for the grand opening, but Roy interrupts: “Oh no, you won’t!” and “If you hurt a single one of our owls, I’m not eating any more of your stupid pancakes” (262). The officials look stunned. Dixon wants to know what he is talking about. Muckle tries to retrieve the megaphone, but she elbows him back.

Roy points at the holes and explains about the owls. Some of the children begin to chant, and Beatrice’s soccer team members wave protest signs. Muckle demands proof, so Roy produces the camera. Unfortunately, Mullet only took one blurry picture of a bird. People look at the shot, but it is unclear that the creature is an owl.

Muckle declares the ceremony over, but a voice chimes in: “Wait, it ain’t over! Not by a mile it ain’t” (266). It is Mullet, who has wedged himself into an owl den so that only his head is exposed. He declares that the bulldozers will have to bury him alongside the owls. In his mouth is a string attached to a bucket. If he pulls the string, the bucket will tip over, releasing several snakes. Muckle orders Delinko to arrest the boy for trespassing, but the officer cannot without arresting everyone else.

Muckle tells Curly to do something about the bucket. Curly refuses. Muckle fires him, grabs a shovel, knocks over the bucket, and hacks the snakes to pieces, but they are rubber snakes. Shovel in hand, Muckle stalks toward Mullet, but Roy and Beatrice block his path. As news cameras click, Garrett and three friends line up with them. The soccer team links arms with Beatrice. Other students join in. City officials, meanwhile, slip away to their limo. Curly heads for the trailer and a beer. Delinko stands to one side, filling out a report.

Beatrice, in a softly beautiful voice, begins singing “This Land Is Your Land” (272). Others join in. Even Mother Paula walks over and sings with them. For an hour, the demonstration continues. More news cameras show up along with extra policemen. Muckle tries to get them to make arrests, but they decline.

Lonna arrives, dressed elegantly, and proclaims for the cameras her admiration for her son, Mullet. She tries to go to him, but Beatrice’s crew blocks her path. An owl circles and lands on Mullet’s head. Grinning, he says, “Don’t worry, little guy […] You’re safe for now” (274). 

The next morning, the newspaper shows photos of Roy and Beatrice, with Mullet’s head in the background. The paper identifies Mullet as “Napoleon Bridger Leep” (275). Lonna managed to get to her son, who climbed out and suffered hugs from her as cameras whirled. Mullet returned home with her in an awkward truce. Roy’s mother hopes they will reconcile, but Roy says Lonna just wants to get on TV.

Muckle tried to strangle a reporter who asked if Mother Paula’s would continue with the construction. The reporter, sporting neck bruises, appears at the Eberhardt door. Her name is Kelly Colfax. She peppers Roy with questions, but his father interrupts. Colfax receives from them a copy of the city’s permit file for the Mother Paula’s restaurant. Mr. Eberhardt got hold of the file, copied it, and reviewed it with environmental lawyers. When she learns what is missing from the file—the proper environmental reports—she is elated. She has her story.

The missing Mother Paula’s environmental report is found in a city councilman’s golf bag, along with $4,500. The report shows three pairs of burrowing owl parents on the construction site. Dixon, a life member of the Audubon Society, resigns her role as Mother Paula, and her career skyrockets. Muckle is not charged with assault, but he is demoted, ordered to take an anger-management class—he fails—and finally resigns. The Wall Street Journal publishes a negative story about the corporation, which abandons the Mother Paula’s project in Coconut Cove and donates the lot as an owl preserve.

Lonna tries to use her connection to Mullet to get on Oprah. The boy lasts two days at home, then, with Beatrice’s help, he escapes out a window. A neighbor, thinking it is a burglary, calls the police, and Mullet gets caught. Lonna vengefully insists he stole from her, and he is remanded to juvenile detention. There, Mullet befriends Dana, and they escape together in a laundry cart, but Mullet knows about Dana’s treatment of Roy, and he uses the young thug as a decoy. When the police close in on the laundry truck, the officers focus on tackling the slow-moving Dana while Mullet gets away. Roy tries to find Mullet without success. Beatrice knows where he is but won’t tell—she is sworn to secrecy.

The Eberhardts drive to the former construction site to look at the owls. By coincidence, Curly and Delinko are there for the same purpose. The group watches as two owls emerge from their burrow followed by “a wobbly-legged youngster that looked as fragile as a Christmas ornament” (289). Curly thinks the birds are cute.

On a Saturday, Roy rides out to the abandoned crab boat, removes his shoes, swims to the boat, and sunbathes on its roof. He sees a school of mullet heading downstream, leans down, and nearly catches one, but it slips through his fingers. He hears laughter and calls out, thinking it is Mullet, but no one answers. He returns to shore and finds that one of his sneakers has been submerged in the creek, its laces tied to an underwater root. Wriggling inside the flooded shoe is a mullet.