Part I: Bimini Chapter VI Summary

Roger and Thomas stay up while the boys sleep, and they talk about Roger's brother Dave who died in a canoe accident when Roger was twelve and Dave eleven. Roger believes that his father never forgave him but did try to understand what his surviving son was going through. Even though Roger had gone into the water after his brother, the water proved too deep and cold. He tells Thomas that he has never gotten over the tragedy and will need to tell it someday.

Roger expresses a desire to write something good rather than the formula junk that makes him money. Roger had once painted and quit. Thomas asks him why, and Roger replies, "'Because I couldn't kid myself any longer. I can't kid myself any longer on the writing either'" (p. 80).

Thomas suggests...