How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
So hurry, hurry, hurry, step right up and collect your prize. The lawyer will count off five minutes. Good luck and a happy Fourth of July. (24.54)
At first, it doesn't make a lot of sense that the will would tell everyone to have a "happy Fourth," when we know that all this action is taking place in November. But if you think about how Westing always had a big Independence Day disguise-fest, it starts to make a lot of sense. In hindsight, this is another clue that the game was full of disguises and tricks all along. The emphasis on the "Fourth" also reminds us of a very important clue, that doesn't get picked up on till the very end: "find the fourth."
Quote #8
Turtle turned to the window. The sun was rising out of Lake Michigan. It was tomorrow. It was the Fourth of July. (30.38)
Weirdly, the day the guy who was Sam Westing actually dies is the day referenced in his will. In his fourth identity, he stops living on the Fourth of July, which was always his favorite holiday. It seems fitting that the gamester and trickster would finally stop deceiving people and pretending to take on alternate identities on the day where, historically, he'd been known to play many parts as different people.