 Over one Christmas break, he visits his mother to surprise her with his published short story, but she sees herself portrayed negatively and explodes.Chub leaves almost as soon as he arrives, and returns to the Oberlin dorm with weeks of Christmas break ahead of him and nothing to do but write.He births a long story about his father's rise, fall and suicide—the best story he's written, Chub thinks—but Two-Brew insists that it's wrong for a short story and should be a novel.