A thunderstorm is happening to the west of Camp Green Lake and the boys hope that it comes their way. Stanley watches the lightning and notices that one of the mountain peaks looks like a thumb. This reminds him of how his great-grandfather said he survived being in the desert after not being killed by Kissin’ Kate Barlow because he “found refuge on God’s thumb” (128). The image of the thumb sticks with Stanley, with the lightning coming out of the thumb “as if it were the thumb of God” (129).

The boys continue to make fun of Stanley for letting Zero help dig his hole so he has energy to teach Zero to read. Armpit, Zigzag, Magnet, and X-Ray are harsh, saying that their deal is like slavery. They start to mock Stanley, asking if they can dig for him too since he is better than they are. Stanley asks them to stop but they keep asking if they can dig for him in mocking tones. Zigzag tells Stanley to eat his cookie for him and let him dig Stanley’s hole too. Mr. Pendanski sees this and comes over, telling Stanley that he can hit Zigzag if he wants to.