chunk: Karl quickly becomes a father figure to Frank, who misses his father and despises Doyle. Karl is haunted by the task given to him by his parents when he was six or eight years old to dispose of his premature, unwanted, newborn brother. He visits his father (Robert Duvall), who has become a mentally unbalanced hermit living in the dilapidated home where Karl grew up. Karl's parents performed an abortion, causing the baby to "come out too soon," and Karl was given a bloody towel wrapped around the baby, which survived the abortion. Karl was instructed to "get rid of it," but when Karl detected movement inside the towel, he inspected it, discovering "a little ol' boy" that "wasn't no bigger than a squirrel."