Holes

On the third day of digging, Stanley finds something in the dirt. He tries not to look at it because he doesn’t want to give it to X-Ray. However, his curiosity gets the best of him and he plucks it out. His discovery is a metallic gold tube with an outline of a heart and the initials KB etched in it. He considers taking it to the Warden in secret but isn’t sure if the Warden would find it interesting. To Stanley, the tube looks familiar, like he had seen it before. Zigzag notices Stanley found something, so Stanley ends up giving it to X-Ray.

Stanley wonders what he could’ve done differently with X-Ray because “for once in his unlucky life, he was in the right place at the right time, and it still didn’t help him” (64). X-Ray acts tersely toward him. When Mr. Pendanski comes to refill their canteens, X-Ray pretends that he found the gold tube in the dirt in his hole. Mr. Pendanski goes to get the Warden. The Warden comes to where the boys are digging and agrees to reward X-Ray. She tells Mr.