Hunters in the Snow

"'I'm going to the hospital,' Kenny said. But he was wrong. They had taken a different turn a long way back."

This story was like a sadistic episode of the three stooges. These three guys, Kenny, Tub, and Frank, were all idiots, and I had trouble sympathizing with any of them. Tub was set up to be the most sympathetic character in the beginning, with Kenny playing the role as the jerk. Once Tub shot Kenny and they left him in the back of the truck, my sympathy turned to Kenny. Tub was the stereotypical fat, dumb guy, always enduring the jokes of his friends. Frank and Kenny enjoyed jokes at Tub's expense, and Kenny even went as far as to pretend to almost run Tub over. Tub could never keep up with them, with their private jokes or when they were walking through the woods. Frank was fickle wit his loyalty, at first aligning himself with Kenny because he was the strongest in the group. Once Kenny was no longer the leader, Frank befriended Tub, telling him his secret about the babysitter. Both lie to their friends and family, covering up their secrets. They act like their problems are incredibly significant while Kenny is freezing and bleeding to death in the back of their truck. Frank and Tub's alliance may have been much stronger than any relationship either of them had with Kenny, and they may have shared resentment towards Kenny. This maybe true because of the wording of the "different turn," not wrong turn. Perhaps sharing their secrets brought Tub and Frank so close, and they decided they didn't need Kenny around anymore.