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This chapter-by-chapter summary contains plot spoilers!
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No Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy:
Pages 261 - 300
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(Brought to you by jat snortyville.) The next scene begins with Chigurh being hit by a car after he leaves Carla's house. He breaks an arm, some ribs, and gets cuts to his head and leg. Two boys see him get hit and ask him if he's OK. Chigurh says he is, and he asks the boys for his shirt to make a sling and wrap around his head. One takes off his shirt and gives it to him. The boys go to his wrecked truck, where they see a gun on the floorboards. One of them takes it.
Bell goes to the house of his uncle Ellis. Ellis and Bell talk for a long time. Ellis mentions that he'd heard from Bell's wife that Bell was quitting, and he wants to know why. Bell asks Ellis what his biggest regret in life is, and Ellis tells him he doesn't know. They talk some more about how Ellis' life went, and how it seemed like it took turns you don't expect but there's nothing you can do about it.
Bell starts doing Ellis' dishes, and asks if he's done something that he's ashamed of. Ellis says everyone has, and asks Bell if he has something he wants to confess. Bell does, and tells him about his time in World War II when he received his commendation. He had been guarding a farm house when the Germans attacked. He managed to find a machine gun and hold them off until after dark, but afterwards, he deserted his post and ran away. Ellis asks him why he's telling him this now, and Bell says that he's not sure, only that he may tell his wife soon.
Bell thinks later about getting old. He also wonders why Chigurh killed Carla. He thinks they have pinned the crime on someone who didn't do it and who will end up getting the death penalty for it. He wonders if everything that happened was God's way of reminding him that there was always something in the past that you have to account for, whether it's to your family or to yourself.
Bell gets a call from the Odessa police, and they tell him that they have found a gun that was used in the murder of Carla Jean which was used in a robbery in Shreveport. Bell calls the lead investigator on the case and asks him the details. The investigator said that two men driving a pickup had hit another one. The two men are dead; the man in the other pickup (Chigurh) had not turned up.
Bell asks if he can talk to the boy who picked up the gun, and the investigator says yes. Bell drives out to see him, and has coffee with him in a cafe. Bell asks him how badly the man in the truck was hurt, and the boy tells him he thinks his arm was broken. Bell asks more questions, but the boy seems reluctant to talk about the man, and gives Bell some very general descriptions. Bell finds the other boy who was there that day and questions him. The other boy says that if he could do it over, he'd do things differently, and he describes how the other boy gave the man the shirt for a one hundred dollar bill, and how the man didn't seem to even notice that his arm was broken.
Characters introduced:
Ellis - Bell's uncle
Detective Cook - officer in Odessa investigating Carla's murder.
David DeMarco - boy that took Chigurh's gun after the truck accident.
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