Mr. Sir creates a tough, cowboy persona to get over the embarrassment of his real name: Marion.
This is very similar to Marion Michael Morrison, better known as John Wayne.
The fact that he has a hidden criminal past and throws a violent tantrum over the scars Walker gave him shows he is quite insecure underneath his macho cowboy facade. Looks like Mr. Pendanski wasn't too off saying how sensitive Mr. Sir was.
Stanley is shown time and time again to have bad luck due to a jilted promise by an ancestor. However, when at Camp Green Lake, he makes not one, but two finds, and manages to survive as long as he did out in the desert, pointing to amazing luck. It makes sense that the curse would let up a bit, because there is now a possibility of a Yelnats carrying a Zeroni up a mountain.
In general, as bad as the curse is, it also seems to favor keeping the cursed people alive, if only so that they'll continue to suffer — at least, given the sheer magnitude of bad luck they've been hit with (which has included multiple lightning strikes and the first Stanley Yelnats being left to die in the desert), their continued survival would seem to be more than pure chance.
Stanley and Hector have to climb a mountain to get to Sam's onion farm. Did Sam have to do the same? Well, no. When the lake was around, the farm would have been closer to the shoreline. Stanley and Hector had to climb out of the lake's basin.
Sam was shot while in the boat, which was on the water. Thus the original shoreline was at the point where the ruins of Mary-Lou lie. Not too far, really.
The story could be a coincidence of epic proportions... or it could be that Madame Zeroni decided that cursing an entire family for all eternity was too harsh and decided to alter the deal in such a way that an opportunity would eventually come up for one of Elya's descendants to break the curse. At the very least, if they were already close, it might have nudged the last few details into place (i.e. having Stanley and Zero end up in the same detention facility) to make sure the opportunity would present itself.
Why does Madame Zeroni curse Elya Yelnats's descendants as well as himself anyway? Seems quite the case of disproportionate retribution to curse an entire lineage of people whose only crime is being descended from someone who forgot to carry out his end of an agreement... at least as long as you forget the detail that when the curse was first laid out, Zeroni was helping Elya to court Myra. Had things worked out and Elya did end up with Myra but still failed to carry Zeroni up the mountain, then the curse would have been affecting the children of Elya and Myra, a marriage Zeroni had a more direct hand in creating and thus perhaps more of a reason for them to have earned her ire. Elya not taking the pig up the mountain just one more day changed the targets of Zeroni's curse to an otherwise innocent line of descendants.
The rain is what brought Sam and Katherine together - as the leaky roof gave him an excuse to see her in the schoolhouse and their first kiss happens when it's raining. After Sam dies, it never rains again at Green Lake. And when does it start raining again? When Trout Walker's family is brought to justice.
Neither the book nor the film elaborates why Kate spared Stanley Yelnats I. It's established that she killed all the men she robbed and kissed them to the boot. There are a lot of explanations:
All members of the Yelnats are cursed, and Stanley I was Elya's only son. If he were fatally shot, the curse wouldn't pass on to the rest of the Yelnats.
As the son of an Eastern European immigrant, Stanley Yelntats I may have had to overcome discrimination. Kate, sympathizing with Sam's racial murder, would probably pity another soul who has been pushed around for his ethnic background.
Kate, whether as an outlaw or as a teacher, was always a good judge of character. She knew Sam was a good man and that Trout was trash. The first person she killed, the crooked sheriff who let Sam get lynched, was definitely a horrible man who had it coming. It is likely the people she killed were like the sheriff: corrupt assholes who needed a bullet in the brain. The reason she spares Stanley I is because she senses that he is a good guy. Perhaps she deliberately left him where he could find God's Thumb.
Kate's peaches and Sam's onions serve the heroes of the story in a lot of meaningful ways:
Kate not being explicitly evil is important for the plot. Before Trout shot Sam, she was known to be generous with her time and food. Her spiced peaches were the pride of the town, and she traded them to Sam in exchange for repairs on the schoolhouse. Those same peaches help save Zero's life when they're in the desert because they were on Sam's boat. While she did a lot of bad, the peaches are a reminder of the good she could do during her life, and after her death.
In a way, Sam got posthumous revenge on the Walker family: his onions are what save Stanley and Hector from starvation, being bitten by the lizards, which foils the Warden's plan to allow the boys to die by a lizard.
What helps Stanley III cure foot odor? Peaches and onions.
Something that this troper finally noticed about Kate's "Still want that kiss?" scene. She was a Teacher, and female teachers in her time were required to be single. A scandal like being seen with Sam would definitely have cost her a job and any chances of employment. That coupled with the fact that she appears in bright red, with bright red lipstick on (a very provocative thing to wear at that time, bold makeup was generally how one identified prostitutes) and the way she teases the Sheriff when taking off the bonnet. The Sheriff thought the pretty teacher that everyone was after, was desperate for cash after losing her job, and was offering more than just a kiss.
In the desert, Kate tosses her pistol away and tells Trout she won't kill him despite having killed and robbed countless men. There are a couple of reasons why:
Kate only kills men who have things she can take. Trout is so poor and desperate that he needs to hold up someone at gunpoint for their treasure, meaning he has nothing Kate can rob. Kate finds giving Trout a quick death to be too merciful: leaving him in poverty is a much better punishment.
Of course, she wouldn't kill him, she kisses the men she kills.
It's interesting to note that the nature of the broken promise is fulfilled practically word for word by Stanley IV. Madame Zeroni states that in exchange for the pig, Elya is to carry her up the mountain and sing to her while she drinks from the stream "that I may get strong too". Stanley is forced to carry Zero because of how weak he's become from dehydration. Upon climbing the mountain, they find both water and onions to consume, which recovers Zero's strength. Finally, Stanley sings the song to Zero, which fulfills all the conditions Madame Zeroni put to Elya.
Looks like Sam's numerous claims about his onions aren't so ridiculous after all. Onion are full of antioxidants and have been shown to help digestion, boost immunity and, yes, even help with hair growth. They're used as home remedies and to alleviate symptoms of diseases. His book claim Mary Lou is nearing 50 isn't impossible, donkeys typically have a lifespan of 25-30, but have been known to live up to 50.
The Yelnats family and the Walker family both have parallel experiences: both of them suffer under a curse brought on them by an ancestor. Both of them live hardscrabble lives. The key difference between them is their upbringing and the choices they made.
Elya's story somewhat parallels Trout Walker's: both of them had their eye on a local young maiden. Both of them committed an act that cursed them: Elya taking one of Madame Zeroni's pigs and not coming back for her and Trout Walker straight up lynching a man and destroying his crush's school. However, Elya moved on from his obsession and found true love, while Trout didn't and ended up married to a woman who only wanted his money.
Stanley I's story also parallels Trout in another way: both of them were wealthy people who went broke: Walker lost his fortune when the lake dried up, while Stanley I lost his wealth at the hands of Kissing Kate. But while Stanley I moved on from his loss, Walker wasted his life in the desert miserably digging holes to recover the loot.
While each of the Yelnats was cursed, they were still decent people: Elya was a good kid who eventually found a smart intelligent woman. Stanley I was (probably) spared by Kate because she sensed he was a good person. Both Stanley II and Stanley III are decent guardians to Stanley IV. Trout, meanwhile, was a rotten human being who forced his granddaughter to dig on Christmas. It is no wonder she turned out so vindictive.
The Warden is basically a Southern plantation owner, using slave labor to get what she wants without doing any kind of work herself, while Stanley III is a determined man who works hard on a cure for foot odor.
Stanley starts out as a timid kid who lets other people push him around, but eventually he toughens up (in the book he goes from fat to thin) and is willing to run into the desert to save his friend. The Warden never let go of her obsession and became a cruel taskmaster who mistreated her charges. Had the Warden been willing to let go, she wouldn't have turned into such a rotten person.
Camp Green Lake embodies a lot of the problems of America's prison system: corrupt officials, substandard conditions, and bad food. But in general, it is a huge swipe at retributive justice.
While the inmates at Camp Green Lake aren't the worst kids in the world, none of them have grown into upstanding members of society after digging holes for months. They still pull scams on Stanley, like taking his bread and conning him out of a day off. Although Small Steps does seem to suggest that it's possible for at least some of them to get to better lives, that doesn't necessarily mean Camp Green Lake gets credit for those.
Some of the juveniles at Camp Green Lake aren't there for crimes that are that serious: Stanley was convicted of stealing a pair of shoes while another let animals out of the zoo. These crimes warrant some kind of punishment. But wasting away in the desert is a bit excessive.
Some of the inmates also have mental health issues, like the kid who is paranoid or the kid obsessed with stealing cars. Those two might have done better with counseling.
The treatment of Zero by everybody is the biggest red flag of all. Everyone treats Hector like some social deviant who will never amount to anything. But when Stanley tries to help Hector out by giving him reading lessons, he is disciplined. If Pendanski was actually a good counselor, he'd be happy Hector was getting an education.
On that note, except for Stanley's informal tutoring of Zero, none of the kids are getting any kind of education, even though they're all mandatory-schooling age. This is in fact one of the bare minimums that juvenile detention facilities are supposed to provide to kids, but Camp Green Lake somehow gets away with just flat-out not doing it and not even trying to pretend otherwise.
Camp Green Lake's methods are proof that brutalizing juvenile delinquents doesn't help them in the long run.
Camp Green Lake becoming a Girl Scout Camp seems like a swipe at Mr. Sir, but it is also a good form of poetic justice for the Walker family and their rotten legacy.
The Girl Scouts are an organization that empowers girls and instills in them things like civic pride, independence, and the outdoors. Trout was a misogynist who treated Kate very possessively, even burning down her school when she kissed a black man over him. Kate's ghost would probably be thrilled to see her former foe's land turned over to an organization that gives young girls the tools to succeed in life.
The Warden's ostensible reason for forcing her charges to dig holes was about "building character". The Warden herself is the furthest thing from someone with character: she's a spiteful and angry person who refuses to let go of her childhood obsession and perpetuates a cycle of abuse. Unlike her child labor camp, a Girl Scout Camp would have actual policies and values that encourage personal growth: teamwork, tenacity, and accomplishment.
It is interesting to see how the Yelnats family and the Walker family sought success.
The Walker family, or Trout at the very least, inherited money and thus had no real appreciation for the value of a dollar. Trout treats Kate as just another thing he wants to possess rather than someone whose affections he must earn. Once Walker goes broke, he has no means of reacquiring wealth. He holds Kate at gunpoint to get treasure, and when Kate dies, he forces his own granddaughter to dig for treasure. The Warden forces her charges to dig for treasure while doing little work herself and blames them when nothing is found. The Walker family are all lazy jerks who make others do work for them and don't accept any responsibility for themselves.
The Yelnats family, despite their poor luck, still struggled to make an honest living and never gave up. While it didn't go well, Yelnats worked hard carrying a pig up the mountain to impress his crush. Despite the curse on him, he still worked hard to be a good husband. Yelnats I managed to become a successful businessman. Even when his loot was taken, he still worked hard to not die in the desert. Yelnats III, despite admonishments from his landlord, still worked hard to become a successful inventor. And Stanley, despite his own hardships, still worked hard and never gave up on his friend Hector.
Through the (well-deserved) misfortunes of the Walker family, one can see a highly localized version of the resource curse: when the abundance of primary resources can hinder long-term viability and prosperity.
The Walker family's wealth came from control of the land around a lake (and one throwaway line suggests there was gold to be found). Gaining access to an easy abundance of wealth made the Walker family wealthy but also complacent in a way not to dissimilar to how lottery winners can go broke. Trout feels no need to get an education because he has easy money to fall back on, and he's shown wasting it on frivolous luxuries like his own private boat. Once the lake dried up, the Walker family's wealth also went up in smoke since the person in control of the remains was a spoiled heir who wasted the fortune on useless things rather than building a diverse portfolio.
Areas dependent on primary resources can create governing systems that have no incentive to care for the population or invest in their long-term future. Trout burning down the school and killing Sam was an example of Trout's disregard for the community: education is not only vital for lifting people up but ensures the long-term viability of society by creating a class of innovators. Sam was not just hardy but a resourceful guy who came up with all kinds of uses for onions, including a lizard repellent. Destroying two sources of innovation killed Camp Green Lake's long-term viability, but since Walker had a primary resource that provided him with easy money without the community's input, he was not concerned with the damage he inflicted on his town.
And so when the lake dries up along with the town's ability to farm or sustain people with potable water, there are no other industries that Camp Green Lake can use to fall back on. Any potential innovators who could move to the town are scared off by the violence that resulted in the destruction of a school and a lynchingnote It is documented that Jim Crow laws are what made the South poorer than the North. Hence why the older Trout has become a deranged pauper who has to threaten his nemesis at gunpoint and force his daughter to dig holes.
While the Warden has somewhat gotten back on her feet by turning her grandfather's land into a detention camp, her strategy for getting rich amounts to using forced labor to find buried treasure rather than innovating or investing her resources into more sustainable industries. While she gets steady money from the state using her property, she would be at serious risk if, one day, the government canceled her contract. Which happens because the Warden, also complacent due to government subsidies, commits illegal acts that get her arrested in the end.
Meanwhile, the first Stanley Yelnats and Stanley's father pursued more sustainable means of gaining wealth: the former made money through diligent investments, while the latter sought to develop a cure for odor, a product with a mass market appeal that many people would want to buy. When Stanley's father finally succeeds in creating a cure, he has access to capital from interested investors and can invest his newfound wealth in making more innovations.
At the movie's end, Camp Green Lake will be turned into a Girl Scout Camp. This is probably a much better use of the town's land than building a prison colony since it allows Camp Green Lake to have an ecotourist economy that brings in revenue from a steady stream of visitors. The rain returning means that Green Lake will be a lush and green location in the near future.
The Warden grew up to become her grandfather in many ways: Trout was a rich asshole who enjoyed luxury, looked down on others, and hurt people to get what he wanted. While the Warden isn't fabulously wealthy, she has a pretty okay life compared to the campers: a steady paycheck from the government using her land, a decent house, and some luxuries. She basically behaves like a cruel slave owner, mistreating the children under her care while enjoying a cushy existence, not too dissimilar to how her grandfather treated her. Like Trout, the Warden never learned to appreciate what she had and was instead consumed by obsession and greed.
Both Madame Zeroni and her descendant Hector Zeroni had one thing in common: they were outcasts in the places they lived. Madame Zeroni was thought of by the villagers as an evil nutcase, while Hector was treated by Camp Green Lake as a useless moron. Their only friend in the world was a member of the Yelnats family. Zeroni's curse on Elya was not Disproportionate Retribution: she was hurt that her only friend in the world forgot about her and didn't fill his end of the bargain. The good fortune that follows Stanley after he helps Hector up the mountain isn't just Stanley fulfilling his ancestor's debt: Madame Zeroni's ghost is moved by this young man showing her misfit descendant the kindness she never got to have in life.
In the movie, Stanley's grandfather, Stanley II, seems magnanimous enough to share the family fortune with Hector. But considering the emphasis he puts on the name "Zeroni" it is possible he's only sharing the money because he realizes Hector is Madame Zeroni's descendant and he doesn't want the curse to come back.
Conversely, it's also possible that he realizes, or at least suspects, that Hector's presence has something to do with the family finally breaking the curse, and his happiness at sharing is gratitude that they have it at all.
Hector being a much better hole digger than the other campers, and especially Stanley, makes a good deal of sense: Stanley is a somewhat sheltered kid, and in the book, he suffers from severe weight problems. Hector has lived a pretty hardscrabble life and is relatively thin, meaning he can dig more easily.
Elya forgetting to come back for Madame Zeroni makes sense: he was incredibly disappointed after he wasted time and effort trying to impress a woman who wasn't a good fit for him.
Trout ending up in the poor house probably wasn't just because the lake dried up: he was an arrogant brat who turned down the chance to get a decent education. So it is likely he destroyed himself and his family's fortune with bad business decisions and pure ignorance.
Camp Green Lake apparently dried up because of the curse brought on by Sam's lynching. But it is possible Sam's death had more direct consequences: considering how important his onion farming was, his murder crippled the town since the onions had numerous health benefits, as well as keeping the lizards away.
Stanley being the one who discovers the treasure on Walker's land makes sense for a few reasons:
There is the curse on him and his family being lifted, meaning his family can now enjoy riches and good luck.
The Walker family was cursed to never find the treasure by Kate. So would make sense that as a final twist of the knife, the curse would mean that someone else would find the treasure.
If Kate stealing Stanley I's treasure is part of the curse, then perhaps Stanley proving his decency and helping Hector up the mountain is both Madame Zeroni and Kate's ghost deciding to return the wealth as a reward for his courage.
Stanley's curse doesn't end just because he helped someone named Zeroni up a mountain. He risked severe punishment by stealing a truck and escaping from jail to save Hector and risked social ostracisation by helping a kid who everyone wrote off as stupid. Madame Zeroni rewarded Stanley for his courage and bravery, on top of fulfilling Elya's debt. If Kate's ghost was also involved, she may have also been touched by seeing Stanley show the courage that no one in Camp Green Lake had for Sam.
While Zeroni's curse has left the Yelnats family poor, it doesn't seem to be that cruel. While each of the Yelnats men never became wealthy, with Stanley I being robbed of his wealth, they still managed to find love and raise a family despite this. There are several explanations.
Zeroni's curse is a form of Cruel Mercy: each generation of Yelnats is condemned to a life of poverty and woe.
Zeroni's curse was a relatively kind punishment. While Zeroni might have been disappointed with Elya, she still recognized that she was still a decent boy deep down. Hence the curse still allows him and his descendants to enjoy a degree of happiness, and are thus left with the chance of making up for Elya's mistake.
Elya was guilty of breaking a deal with one of his good friends and not giving her the water she needed, which, as noted in Fridge Horror below, will leave her in a terrible position. But Elya has enough self-awareness to realize he made a severe mistake. And more importantly, he does at least learn from his experience with Myra Menke and (in the book) finds someone who he genuinely loves. Elya may be cursed, but because he acknowledges his mistake and avoids other amoral behavior, he and his descendants don't live completely terrible lives.
The rain coming back as soon as Walker and her goons are arrested could reflect that while she didn't get better, society itself evolved for the better. Whereas 19th-century Texans helped her grandfather lynch an innocent man, 21st-century Texas society punished her for her corrupt behavior.
While the Yelnatses remained decent people despite indecent circumstances, the Walkers became worse and worse over generations. While the former family was eventually able to break their curse and thrive, the latter's lives deteriorated to the point that Walker ended her life behind bars.
When you reread the book/watch the movie, you notice Madame Zeroni and Sam are both pretty similar:
Both of them have a farming background: Zeroni raises pigs while Sam harvests onions.
Both of them were heavily distrusted by their communities: Madame Zeroni was distrusted for being a type of mystic. Sam was distrusted for being a black man in turn-of-the-century America.
Both of them suffered a serious betrayal that led to a curse: Elya forgot to bring Madame Zeroni up the mountain, while Trout lynched Sam out of anger at being denied Kate's love. Elya was cursed never to achieve prosperity, while Green Lake was damned to become a barren desert.
The vindication of their memory ends the curse that resulted from their betrayal: Stanley bringing Hector up the mountain ends the elder Zeroni's curse. When the Walker family finally gets their overdue justice, giving Sam a posthumous victory, the rain returns to Camp Green Lake.
So why did the Warden object so much to Stanley's teaching Zero how to read? At first, it seems like a senseless Kick the Dog action, but look at it this way, Stanley, who's white, is educating Zero, who's black, and treating him like the human being he is; this is exactly what Kate would have done. To the Warden, Stanley might as well be the second coming of the woman who she blames for ruining her family.
Zero's whole personality could be subject to this. He has a very specific talent (digging holes) that most people consider useless, he's unusually good at math, and he almost never speaks until Stanley becomes the first person he trusts enough to open up to him. Do any of those traits sound familiar? They should. Zero potentially has Asperger's syndrome.
Kate says Trout and his descendants could spend "a century digging and never find" her treasure. The Warden almost managed to find a loophole in this, as she turned the former lake into a detention camp and had other people search for the treasure instead. Neither the Warden nor her descendants could ever find the treasure, but someone else could, which the Warden might even have been banking on. Besides, it was a much more efficient way of finding the treasure than her crazy grandfather digging randomly would be, and she made money off of it without having to do any of the work herself.
Assuming that Madame Zeroni really had the power to curse people, that means that others can do the same. In that case, who knows how many other families out there are cursed for all eternity? Especially since other curses might not have escape clauses....
Considering the folkloric feel of the book, curses in the setting might work according to Ravenloft rules: they must have escape clauses to take. However, there's no guarantee other cursed families know their curses' escape clauses....
Stanley doesn't know the escape clause either; he carries Zero up the mountain as an act of friendship and survival. The fact that he also breaks the curse at the same time is complete coincidence; Stanley has no idea he's breaking the curse, he just wants to help his friend. So either (1) the curse obligingly made sure (somehow) that everything would fall into place at the right time, or (2) it was pure coincidence. Either way, foreknowledge of the escape clause is clearly not a requirement for stumbling across it.
The horrible luck of Zero and his mother suggests they might have a curse going on too. What the hell did they do to suffer that?
Having a hard life doesn't necessarily mean they're under a curse. In the case of the Zeronis, they've been through some pretty awful years, but it's all related to a single cause (the family's extreme poverty). What makes Stanley's family different isn't just that they've been through hard times, it's the sheer number of otherwise unrelated bad things that keep happening to them.
Myra being unable to choose between Elya and Igor may not necessarily just be due to her being dimwitted, but her being raised in a society where women don't have the luxury of choosing who to marry so when presented with such an opportunity she doesn't even know how to comprehend such a choice. The fact that she is surprised to see her father letting her make the decision implies that Morris Menke just never let her make any serious decisions in her life. Myra isn't really dumb, she's just emotionally stunted and dependent due to her sexist and overprotective father.
Also, it's not like she has any kind of preexisting relationship with either of them, she barely knows them except to say hello. From her point of view, she's being asked to choose between two strangers — how would she know that Elya would be a better husband than Igor? It's not like she knows anything about what either of them is like as a person. As far as she knows, Elya's polished exterior could be hiding something rotten underneath; the reader knows that's not the case, but Myra doesn't. And if it's common in that time and place for older men to marry younger women, that wouldn't be a red flag either (arguably not at all, as these things are often shaped by cultural norms, and certainly not from Myra's own perspective) even if it seems like one to the audience.
In the movie, Pendanski is obviously lying when he says Barf Bag is "still in the hospital". According to "Stanley Yelnats' Guide To Camp Green Lake", Barf Bag ran away from the hospital and disappeared, not realizing his sentence had now finished, but the level of care usually shown to the campers would suggest he's buried in one of the holes. They did say "Plenty of graves to choose from" in the lizard hole scene... It's also almost certainly not the first time this has happened.
The court was aware of the vacancy at Camp Green Lake, hence why Stanley was offered the chance to go there. They probably would've been aware if Barf Bag actually died or not, and none of the campers say that he's dead.
Zero's mother not coming back for him implies she was probably imprisoned. She was a homeless woman confirmed by Zero to be surviving by theft, and if she'd been free she would certainly have made every effort to get back to him.
It'd also explain why she'd intentionally abandon Zero too. It's very difficult for a parent who's done time to regain custody of their child back from the state, and near impossible if they're unable to provide adequate food and shelter. It's either leaving your child to look after themselves until you're out or losing them in the foster system until they aged out.
Adding on to this, the book doesn't go into much detail about the situation, but the movie confirms that Zero's mom was looking for him too. Given that theft sentences aren't usually all that long, it's entirely possible that she was released well before Zero went to Camp Green Lake, but it had been long enough that he was no longer staying where she left him, so she didn't know how to find him.
While Madame Zeroni cursing Elya may have been harsh, it is understandable why she would be so angry: in the book especially, she is described as too infirm to be able to walk about the mountain herself and get water. And it is implied Elya is the only person in the village who treated her with respect, so him ditching her would leave her in a pretty horrible position to say the least.
Linda Miller, one of Kate's former students, becoming Trout's wife has quite a few horrifying implications.
Considering Linda's age, how old was she when Trout tied the knot? Since Kate wouldn't marry Trout, did he decide to groom one of her students out of some twisted kind of spite toward the woman who rejected him?
Why would one of Kate's former students be so willing to hold her favorite teacher at gunpoint? Considering the racism of the time, it is sad to think that Linda also turned on her teacher for the horrible act of kissing a black man. Like the adults, Linda was consumed by the town's poisonous bigotry.
Linda was described as a good student, so why would she stoop so low as to marry Trout? Considering how a mob burned the school down, it is likely another school never opened up. Linda Miller never got the education that would allow her to become independent, forcing her to marry Trout just for a taste of social mobility. Since the lake gradually dried up, it means there were fewer opportunities for social advancement.
Considering how easily the camp employees were willing to let Stanley and Zero die at the hands of some deadly lizards, and came very close to shooting the kids themselves, how many other kids have they allowed to die or straight-up murdered? Adding to that, Pendanski was able to hack into the state's records and erase Zero's records. Of course, he was only able to do this since Zero didn't have any family members, but how many others kids did they erase from the state's records? It would be a nightmare to have these adults having unsupervised jurisdiction over children.
So Zero's mom was having him wait in places like parks, while she would go off on her own. As mentioned above, it is very likely that she was imprisoned, as she would have returned for him otherwise. Zero confirmed that she was relying on theft for food as they were homeless, but sentences for theft tend to be quite lenient. But if she was imprisoned for theft, then surely she could have taken Zero with her. But instead, she would leave him in parks for the whole day. So it is very much possible that she had taken to prostitution as a way of supporting herself and her son, and it explains why she would leave Zero alone. She wouldn’t want Zero to have to sit in peoples houses to hear her having sex with men entirely for financial purposes. Then, one day she got busted by the cops and was given a harsh sentence.
Good thing Kate removed the pits from the peaches she put in jars, otherwise, when the abandoned jars turned into sploosh after 110 years, the pits would also turn to mush, and thoroughly mix with the edible part. Peach pits contain cyanide. So when Stanley and Hector ate them, they would have died horribly even if the jars were perfectly airtight.
