in his story ernest hemingway never has the narrator tell the reader where the towels come from , whether theyre dish towels or hand towels of ordinary size or long towels on a roller , what kind of cloth the towels are made of , whether theyre clean or dirty , what color they are , whether there are patterns in the cloth , whether the towel put in the mouth of nick adams and the towel put in the mouth of sam the cook , another character in the story , are a matched pair to balance the way , according to the narrator , al and max are dressed like twins .