The House of the Scorpion Chapter Summary PDF

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The House of the Scorpion chapter summary Chapter 1 In the Beginning We like the shout-out to the first line of Genesis in the chapter title. As the book opens, we meet Eduardo who is working in your typical science lab, complete with bubbling liquids and tubes and glass dishes. Eduardo is trying to grow some cells, but he's worried that most of his batch are dying. While he's working, Lisa tells him the cells are over a hundred years old. Finally one cell survives and starts to grow into a person. Hmm. The baby that is being created in the lab is apparently being grown inside a cow. Weird enough for you? Eduardo wonders and worries about the baby until the little boy is finally born. At that point, he begins injecting the baby with something that will make him unintelligent. But Lisa stops him and tells him that the Matteo Alacráns are always left alone. The who? Chapter 2 The Little House in the Poppy Fields Nancy Farmer is pretty clever with her chapter titles. This one is a shout-out to the popular Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. As this chapter opens, a little boy named Matt is upset that his caretaker, Celia, is leaving for work. After all, Matt has to stay alone in the house all day while Celia is gone. Outside, there are fields of white poppies. Matt sometimes sees people outside like he does on TV, and he's curious about them. But Celia won't let Matt go outside because it's dangerous. Okay, now we're intrigued. Celia is a cook at a fancy house nearby and brings Matt delicious food every day. While home by himself, Matt tries to talk to his stuffed animals and pictures, but he just gets bored and lonely. Then, two kids show up outside and see Matt through the window. He's scared and excited, but the kids leave pretty quickly. Matt doesn't tell Celia what happened. Scandalous! We find out that Celia isn't Matt's real mother, but Matt thinks of her as his Mama anyway.

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When a curious Matt asks, Celia tells him about the people at the "Big House." He's interested in the kids there, and from Celia's information, Matt figures out that the two kids he saw are named Steven and Emilia. Apparently Steven's brothers are punks, especially Tom. Oh, and Emilia's younger sister is named María. Celia puts Matt to bed, but before he goes to sleep he practices things to say to Steven and Emilia, hoping they'll play with him tomorrow. Chapter 3 Property of the Alacrán Estate After Celia leaves for work, Matt waits nearly all day for the kids to show up again. Finally Steven, Emilia, and María return to stare at Matt. He's obviously stuck inside, but he gets some pictures to hold up to the window. Interesting tactic. Steven and Emilia think the pictures are pretty funny and realize he can understand them. Unfortunately, María is tired and cranky and starts to cry, which totally ruins the moment. Steven and Emilia get annoyed and walk off, leaving María outside the house. Matt gets upset by this, so he breaks the window with a pot to get to María. The kids are stunned. Matt asks if they want to play, and then he tries to get out the window, but he cuts himself pretty badly on his foot. He passes out and wakes up later, when Steven and Emilia are carrying him to the Big House. When they arrive at the house, some maids begin to take care of Matt's foot. A woman named Rosa asks him questions about who he is, and Emilia notices that Matt has something written on the bottom of his foot. It says "Property of the Alacrán Estate." Everyone is totally confused. Steven's dad bursts in and starts yelling about how Matt is an animal and doesn't belong there. Animal? Who are you calling an animal, mister? Everyone leaves the room and poor Matt is all by his lonesome. Chapter 4 María Matt is now outside, lying on the grass, hoping Celia will come to get him soon. He's going to be in big trouble. Emilia and Steven start talking about Matt, and Steven tells Emilia that Matt is a clone. A clone! They are both horrified. As it turns out, they think clones are animals. Finally, a doctor shows up. He and Rosa take Matt inside again to operate on his

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foot. The doctor and Rosa are rough with Matt, and they leave him alone in a dark room with nothing but a bed and a bucket. Matt is terrified and starts to cry for Celia. Later, María comes by and brings Matt dinner. Finally, some kindness. Matt starts to tell María a scary story that Celia told him about the chupacabra, or a "goat sucker" monster, but this scares María, so Matt feels pretty bad. Let's face it: Matt isn't good at winning over the ladies. It's gotten late, so María decides to stay in the room with Matt for the night. She's scared to go outside because of monsters. The next morning Rosa storms in and drags María out, shouting at her for hanging out with a clone. Chapter 5 Prison Matt is still stuck in the room, and he's at the mercy of Rosa, who seems to be totally evil. It's a pretty sticky situation. The doctor also comes to tend to Matt's wounds, and he and Rosa start to talk about El Patrón. They both seem scared of him. All Matt knows is that El Patrón is the boss of the Big House. Rosa and the doctor, named Willum, are super flirty but also argue a lot in front of Matt, which totally confuses him. The doctor then goes away for an extended period and Rosa flips out. She takes it out on Matt and treats him worse than ever. Evil lady that she is, Rosa then gets some gardeners to build Matt a pen filled with sawdust; and, of course, she sticks him right in there. Harsh. When the doctor comes back from wherever he went, he freaks out and yells at Rosa for putting Matt in a pen. The doctor is worried about keeping Matt alive and healthy. Matt is scared – obviously – and he's worried that Celia has forgotten about him. The punky kid, Tom, shows up and taunts Matt one day, so Matt throws some rotten fruit at him. Good move, Matt. Unfortunately, Tom comes back with a slingshot and shoots peas at Matt, which really hurt. Matt spends his time examining bugs and burying things in the sawdust. Finally, Celia arrives with María. She's horrified about what has happened – she was told Matt was with El Patrón. Thankfully, she tells Matt she's working on a plan to rescue him. But Matt's actually happy when his visitors leave because he wants to go back to playing with his buried treasures in the sawdust. Chapter 6

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El Patrón Matt gets woken up by Rosa screaming at him. This lady is always yelling. She drags him to a bathtub and washes him off frantically, after which he's hauled out into a courtyard to meet the family. When he gets outside, Matt is basically shell-shocked. Celia is there along with the mysterious El Patrón and other members of the family. Celia's mad. She lets Rosa have it and tells El Patrón, and everyone else, that Rosa has been treating Matt like an animal. Rosa tries to defend herself, but even her doctor boyfriend turns on her. Furious, El Patrón has Rosa hauled off. He calls Matt over, who likes El Patrón instantly. We also learn here that Matt is El Patrón's clone. Perhaps thinking that some clone-bonding is in order, El Patrón tells Matt about his childhood in Aztlán, which was then called Mexico. He's pretty much rambling at this point. Finally El Patrón conks out – he's old and has talked too much – at which point Celia takes Matt to their new apartment home in the Big House. Matt is happy, but he won't talk, even when María visits him later and tries to persuade him to chat with her. Next we learn that El Patrón is going away to rest in his mountain vacation home. He's 140 years old so he tires easily, and can you blame him? That's almost as old as Dumbledore. Celia dresses Matt and they head off to tell El Patrón bon voyage. At the good-bye, Matt meets to the entire family, and El Patrón reveals to everyone that Matt is his clone. According to El Patrón, this means that Matt is super important, so anyone who harms him will be punished. El Patrón gives the Godfather a run for his money here: everyone is so scared of El Patrón, they have no choice but to agree. Then El Patrón gives Matt the gift of a bodyguard, whom he lets Matt pick. Matt (understandably) decides on a huge man with nice eyes named Tam Lin, who's Scottish. Good call. Tam Lin quickly picks Matt up and carts him off. Chapter 7 Teacher Poor Matt's still having problems dealing with society. He won't talk and he's reluctant to leave Celia's apartment. Matt develops a growing dislike for Tom, who is a bully. He's like the Draco Malfoy to Matt's Harry Potter. But Matt slowly warms up to Tam Lin, who ends up being pretty cool.

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After living in the pen for months on end, Matt has developed asthma. As if he didn't have enough trouble. María keeps visiting and trying to talk to Matt but he still refuses to respond. Tam Lin calls Matt out on his rude behavior, telling him that he doesn't have to turn into another El Patrón. Matt thinks this over. Hmm. Eventually, Matt gets a tutor called Teacher who is overly chirpy. Teacher treats Matt like a baby, which makes him so mad he practically explodes. He yells at her. He speaks! Tam Lin rushes in to comfort the teacher, who is freaked out by Matt. Finally, Matt introduces himself to Tam Lin for the first time (took you long enough, Matt), and Tam Lin takes him out for a picnic. Chapter 8 The Eejit in the Dry Field Matt's thrilled to be going out with Tam Lin. He's even more pumped about riding a horse. But protective Tam Lin picks a slow horse, and Matt thinks this is lame. Picky picky. Apparently months of not talking left him with lots to say, because Matt chatters nonstop. While they're out, he and Tam Lin see Farm workers, who are harvesting opium. They notice that the workers keep going without stopping for anything. Matt sees a Farm worker lying on the ground and Tam Lin gets upset and says they have to leave him there. It turns out the man is dead. They finally stop their ride and Tam Lin tells the horse to drink. Apparently these horses are different than the one's we're used to. The horse is called a Safe Horse, and it's programmed to do exactly what a rider tells it to do. So it won't even drink unless it's told to do so. The two guys then go on a hike and come to a pretty oasis, but Tam Lin tells Matt it's a secret and he can't tell anyone about it. Then he explains that Matt was cloned from El Patrón, which is why people don't like him: he's different. Matt also learns about eejits: people who are programmed to obey orders, just like the Safe Horse. As it turns out, the Farm worker who died did so because he was never told to stop working, so he worked himself to death. Scary stuff. Horrified, Matt asks Tam Lin to stop telling him things – it's freaking him out! So Tam Lin takes Matt exploring instead, and teaches him about plants, animals, and survival skills. He'd make a great Boy Scout troop leader, don't you think? Matt asks Tam Lin to be his teacher, and he gladly accepts.

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Chapter 9 The Secret Passage Matt's settling into a nice routine with Celia and Tam Lin, but he's constantly bothered by the fact that he's a copy of another person. It's okay, Matt, we would be, too. He's also haunted by the dead eejit he saw. María still visits, but now brings her annoying dog, Furball with her, which only serves as a reminder to Matt that people think of him as an animal. Ugh. When he hears Tom and Steven's mother, Felicia, playing the piano, Matt becomes interested in the instrument, and music in general. Felicia, we learn, is an alcoholic and seems very depressed. One day, Matt has to hide in a closet to listen to Felicia play. The closet is actually a secret passage, and Matt starts to explore it. It goes all over the Big House and has peepholes into various rooms. Matt wanders towards the room of Mr. Alacrán's father, who has cancer and is refusing treatment. On another exploration of the Big House, Matt observes the doctor, Willum, hanging around Felicia. The two seem pretty cozy. After a while, Matt starts to play the piano himself in secret, but Tam Lin discovers him and decides to get him a proper piano teacher. They find a music teacher who has gone deaf and really needs a job. His name is Mr. Ortega and he agrees to teach Matt, even if Matt is a clone. Figuring that if he excels at school people will forget he's a clone, Matt throws himself into his studies. Chapter 10 The Cat with Nine Lives We jump forward three years in time. It's El Patrón's 143rd birthday. He's even got Bilbo Baggins from The Fellowship of the Rings beat. Matt, who really cares about El Patrón, is sad to see him so aged. Celia seems nervous about El Patrón's party and tells Matt to find her if anything seems weird. María is there for the party, but she's upset because she can't find Furball, so Tam Lin and Matt reluctantly help her look for the dog. Tom is there, too, and joins the search party, but Matt notices that Tom is only half-heartedly looking. He suspects that Tom did something to Furball. Uh oh. Eventually, after hearing the dog's cries, Matt finds Furball in the toilet, almost drowned. He's horrified – Tom nearly killed the dog. Matt kind of likes El Patrón's birthday, because it means that his friends are celebrating it as his birthday, too. It's the one day of the year that the Alacráns

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have to pay attention and be polite to him. A creepy red-headed guy from California is also at the party. His name is Mr. MacGregor. El Patrón arrives and appears to be in much better health. He thanks his new doctors for their awesome treatment with million dollar checks. Ka-ching! He then proceeds to tell the story he tells all the time, about how his family was very poor and how all of his eight siblings died before reaching adulthood. Chapter 11 The Giving and Taking of Gifts Matt wanders around and checks out the seating arrangement at El Patrón's party. As a joke, he takes Tom's place card and sticks it at the baby table. María catches him, so Matt tells her that he thinks Tom tried to drown Furball. She doesn't believe him, though. Instead, she think's Matt's being quite the jerk. El Patrón and Mr. Alacrán join the conversation, and El Patrón approves of Matt's joke. When María protests, El Patrón tells her to stuff it. Still angry, she refuses to talk to Matt anymore. Tam Lin, too, isn't thrilled with how Matt is acting. Then Matt overhears a conversation among the adults. El Patrón is talking about things like "fetal brain implants" and makes fun of his grandson, El Viejo, for not hopping onboard the modern medical technology bandwagon. It turns out El Viejo is the man with cancer, whom Matt stumbled upon while roaming the secret passageway in Chapter 9. Is this all coming together now? Mr. Alacrán (who we now know is El Patrón's great-grandson) sticks up for his father, El Viejo, and says that "implants" are "immoral." Despite their disagreement, El Patrón decides not to lay the smack down on Mr. Alacrán. It is his birthday, after all, so he's not really in the right mood. Felicia tries to take Tom some food at the baby table, but Mr. Alacrán yells at her to shut up and sit down. People are seriously mean around here. El Patrón then opens his presents. He has tons of them, of course. Our other birthday boy, Matt, is then allowed to open his three presents, from Celia, Tam Lin, and El Patrón. María, still peeved, tries to take back her present, but her dad tells her to hand it over and stop complaining. Channeling El Patrón, Matt orders María to bring him his gift. Eek. Then he steps over the line and demands a birthday kiss. Everyone is horrified because he's a clone, but El Patrón is delighted. Even though he begins to regret his actions, Matt refuses to back down. María finally kisses him, which makes Matt is horrified at his own behavior. Later, back in his room, Matt opens María's gift, which is a box of taffy that she

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made herself. Pretty sweet. We learn that María is a hoarder, and that her mother abandoned her when she was only five. Celia says this is why María won't let things go and why she won't let Furball leave her sight. Feeling pretty guilty, Matt goes to sleep. Chapter 12 The Thing on the Bed Felicia shows up the next morning out of nowhere, surprising Matt, who was studying. She seems ill, but she tries to be nice to Matt. She tells him that María wants to see him and that she's at the hospital. When Matt goes to meet her, she's there, but she thought it was Matt's idea to meet there. Uh-oh. It's a set-up. Tom walks in and takes them to see something awful. At first it sounds like a cat being tortured, but when Tom opens the door, the three of them see a clone who is pale and tied down and screeching. We learn that the clone is Mr. MacGregor's. Though horrified, Matt can't help but notice that the clone looks a lot like Tom, who gets mad when Matt points this out. Freaking out, María refuses to look at the clone or listen to anything about it. Matt gets angry with her because she was gung-ho about rescuing the creature when she thought it was a cat, and now she wants nothing to do with it. Chapter 13 The Lotus Pond Matt's terrified. He wants to talk with someone about what he saw, so he goes to Celia and tells her what happened. She's furious with Tom for showing them that, and she tells Matt that Tom is Mr. MacGregor's son. Scandal! It turns out Felicia ran off with Mr. MacGregor, but when the relationship ended, El Patrón had her brought back and now she's basically a prisoner at the house. Then Celia explains that all clones have their brains destroyed at birth. It's a law. But El Patrón is so powerful that he disregarded the law and left Matt's brain intact. Okay, big revelation: Matt is the only clone in existence with a brain that hasn't been destroyed. With a promise that he'll be safe as long as he lives, Celia assures Matt that no one will inject him with any brain-destroying drugs. It's time for a nap. As he drifts off to sleep, Matt wonders why MacGregor would

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want a brain-damaged clone. Lo and behold, MacGregor shows up a few days later and has a new liver and new kidneys. Aha. María is going to boarding school soon, but she refuses to talk to Matt. In an effort to force her to speak to him, Matt decides to kidnap Furball and send María a ransom note. Meanwhile, Matt finds Tom hanging around, torturing a frog. The two bicker and Tom goes back inside. Then, Matt sneaks over to where the Mendozas are staying and prepares to snatch Furball. He tries one last time to talk to María but she runs off. So Matt gives Furball some meat to get the dog to come with him. He has some drugs to make Furball fall asleep but he doesn't end up using them. After leaving the ransom note, Matt takes Furball and leaves him near the pond for safekeeping. His plan is to go back later to meet María there after she reads the ransom note. When he does head back, Matt is by met Tam Lin and another bodyguard named Daft Donald. A man named Senator Mendoza is with them; furious, he tells Matt that Furball is dead. (P.S. This guy is actually a US Senator.) Yelling, Matt declares that he loves María and wouldn't hurt her, which makes the Senator even angrier. Tam Lin is seriously disappointed in Matt, and doesn't believe Matt when he says that he didn't kill Furball. We find out that Tam Lin is also leaving with El Patrón. Chapter 14 Celia's Story Matt is confined to his room. He's pretty miserable because he has a lot of regrets about what he's done, and he's also frustrated that no one believes that he didn't kill Furball. Plus, he's pretty sure Tom killed the dog, but he can't prove it. Plus, without Tam Lin, who has left with El Patrón, Matt's very lonely. Now that Tam Lin is gone, he realizes what a friend he was. He decides to make Tam Lin proud by making better decisions. There is some good news, though. El Patrón found out about Tom's stunt at the hospital and banishes him to boarding school for a year. So at least that bully won't be around. From Celia, Matt learns that El Patrón won't ever let things go. He even keeps a stash of all his presents in an underground tomb, where he wants to be buried like a pharaoh. This is why El Patrón keeps Tom around, too, even though he hates him. Tom "belongs" to him. N...