Six Stories is comparable to the novella collection Different Seasons (1982) in that the stories don’t quite fit within the normal King mode. However, the author’s very distinctive voice and astounding storytelling ability make this a memorable collection. More odd than horrific, these tales highlight King’s extraordinary ability to create believable, three-dimensional characters to which readers can relate and sympathize.
[NOTE: “The Man in the Black Suit” is discussed in the Castle Rock section. “Autopsy Room Four” is discussed in the Derry section. “Lunch at the Gotham Cafe, “Luckey Quarter,” and “L.T.’s Theory of Pets” are discussed in the section on the collection Everything’s Eventual, as that collection was a mass-market release.]
“Blind Willie”
“Blind Willie,” the most intriguing story in this collection, follows mild-mannered businessman Bill Teale on his commute to work in New York City. Bill arrives at his office and then proceeds to another room in the same building, where he changes clothes, becoming Willie Teale. He departs, only to switch outfits again in a posh Manhattan hotel. Willie then goes to his real place of employment—Fifth Avenue, just outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where he earns a living as Blind Willie, Vietnam vet and panhandler. Despite its unique take on the phenomenon of street people, this narrative has a lot to say about the plight of the homeless.
[NOTE: The character of Bill Teale is not considered to be part of the Stephen King Universe, as an altered and expanded version of this story is incorporated into 1999’s Hearts in Atlantis, which must be considered the preferred and therefore, for our purposes, “official” text.]
SIX STORIES: TRIVIA
• In 1999, “Lunch at the Gotham Café” was released in an audio version along with two other smoking-related tales. The package was entitled Blood and Smoke.
• An altered version of “Blind Willie” is included in King’s 1999 experimental novel/collection, Hearts in Atlantis.
52
FROM A BUICK 8
(2002)
Like 1983’s Christine, From a Buick 8 is ostensibly about a vintage automobile, but that’s where any similarity between the two novels ends. Unlike the former, which featured a demonic car out for blood, the latter features something that looks like an auto, but is actually a doorway to another reality.
The aforementioned doorway takes the approximate shape of a 1954 Buick Roadmaster; said car is impounded by troopers of Pennsylvania State Patrol Troop D in 1979, after its apparent owner, a tall man dressed in black, abandons it at a local gas station. Examining the vehicle, the responding officers realize that it contains far too many anomalies to actually be a car. Intrigued by its utter strangeness, they tow it back to their barracks, where it becomes a source of wonderment to them for the next two decades.
Why? Well, strange things happen around the Buick, which is kept in a storage shed on the grounds. The first night it is there, the temperature in the shed drops twenty degrees. Then the car begins to emit intense bursts of light. Finally, a trooper disappears—subsequent investigation leads the troop to conclude that, strange as it may seem, the car was somehow responsible.
Over the years, any number of strange plants and creatures appear in the shed, seemingly emerging from its trunk. Objects placed in the shed for experimental purposes disappear. The light shows continue, but are separated by greater and greater intervals. During this time, the troop manages to keep the car a secret, revealing its presence and proclivities to only a select few.
The troopers relate the Buick’s history over the course of an evening to young Ned Wilcox, son of Curtis Wilcox, a trooper who died a year earlier in an accident eerily similar to the one that befell King in 1999 (even eerier, King wrote the novel before his accident). Curtis was obsessed with the car, studying and recording its activities, even going so far as to autopsy one of the creatures that emerged from its “womb.” Despite this, he never found definitive answers.
If From a Buick 8 is “about” something, it is about the fact that life itself rarely yields definitive answers. As one character says, “Life rarely finishes its conversations.” Why do some people survive accidents when others perish? Why are some successful and others failures? Why? Real life is not orderly, nor is everything that occurs easily explainable. Human beings can look for patterns, for explanations, but they very rarely manifest themselves. The book also makes the point that despite the tragedy or wonderment that appears in our lives, life, indeed, does go on. King’s characters go to great pains to emphasize that to Ned, who, being in his teens, does not have the perspective that the older troopers have.
The tone of this novel is a hybrid between King’s “own” voice and that of his pseudonym, Richard Bachman, a tightrope walk between optimism and cynicism. The story slowly builds momentum, drawing the audience into the narrative so subtly that you find yourself a good two hundred pages into the book before looking up. Of course, like most of King’s novels, it features well-realized characters that evoke readers’ sympathies. Although King set the story in rural Pennsylvania, these characters resemble the native New Englanders with which King usually populates his tales, “keeping themselves to themselves,” accepting what life throws at them with preternatural calm and stoicism. It is their all-too-human reactions to the strangeness that has entered their lives, rather than the special effects (which are plentiful), that make this book the subtle triumph that it is.
FROM A BUICK 8: PRIMARY SUBJECTS
SANDY DEARBORN: As of 2002, the commanding officer of Pennsylvania State Patrol Troop D. It is Sandy who narrates the majority of From a Buick 8; he steps aside only to let others relate the pieces of the story that he was not directly privy to. Sandy is unique among the members of Troop D in that he’s actually had a glimpse of the world on the other side of the Roadmaster’s trunk.
CURTIS WILCOX: Along with fellow trooper Ennis Rafferty, Curtis Wilcox answers the call that brings the Buick Roadmaster into the lives of Patrol Troop D. Impounding the car, they remove it from the gas station where it was abandoned by a man in black and bring it to their barracks. After stowing the car in Shed B, they start to move on with their lives. But strange things start to happen at the barracks, and they all center on Shed B. The troopers soon realize that the car, which appears to be a doorway between this reality and another, is something extraordinary.
Curtis becomes obsessed with the Buick, performing experiments to test his theories about its nature and origins. Unfortunately, the mystery of the car is not one that lends itself to easy solution. Wilcox is forced to accept the fact that he will never understand anything about the car besides what he has directly observed.
Curtis is killed in 2001 by a drunk driver who hits him while he’s inspecting the rear outside wheel of a semi he had just pulled over.
NED WILCOX: Curtis’s son, Ned becomes part of everyday life at Troop D’s barracks after the death of his father. The troop is glad to have the boy around, first because he reminds them of Curtis, and second because he is part of their extended family.
Making himself useful around the barracks by cleaning up, Ned discovers the car that is being stored in Shed B. Ned asks Sandy Dearborn about the car. Sandy, who has been dreading this moment, decides to tell Ned the entire story. Like his father, Ned, too, becomes obsessed with the car. Thinking he can destroy the vehicle, Ned embarks on a risky plan that nearly costs him his life. Luckily, he is saved when Sandy Dearborn intervenes.
THE BUICK ROADMASTER: Actually, this “not-of-this-world” object only resembles a midnight blue 1954 Buick Roadmaster. In reality, it is a doorway from this world to another world that proves lethal to humans; likewise, the strange creatures from the other side that enter this world from the object’s “trunk” do not survive long on Earth.
The object is left at a gas station in 1979 by its driver, a man in black. The officers who respond quickly realize that the car is not really a car, and tow it to their barracks. A forensic examination (which is never fil
ed) reveals the following:
1. The odometer was set at zero, which is appropriate, as the car would never drive. In fact, no one involved has ever seen it move under its own power.
2. Pebbles placed between the knuckles of the tread of the car’s tires do not remain there, even when placed so far up along the curve of the tire that gravity should have held them in.
3. There are three portholes on one side of the “vehicle” instead of the customary four.
4. The “car’s” exhaust system is made of glass.
The object is stored in Shed B of Troop D’s barracks. The temperature in that shed is usually normal, but often starts to drop precipitously. The drop in temperature is often followed by a phenomenon the troopers call “lightquakes,” fantastic displays of bright light emanating from the “Roadmaster.” Over the years, many members of Troop D have felt a mysterious “pull” emanating from the object in the shed.
The Buick remains in Shed B to this day. Although it has exhibited little sign of aging from the time it arrived, the car developed a crack in its windshield in 2002, perhaps indicating its eventual deterioration.
THE MAN IN BLACK: The “driver” of the “car.” He tells Brad Roach, the attendant at the gas station where the car appears (Brad has his nose in a magazine when the bell in the garage dings, so he doesn’t actually see it pull up), to “Fill ’er up.” When Brad asks him if he wants the oil checked, he replies “Oil’s fine,” then disappears around the corner of the station, presumably on his way to the men’s room. He is never seen again.
BRAD ROACH: The attendant on duty the day the man in black leaves the “Buick” at the gas station. Also the “veteran county drunk” driver who accidentally kills Curtis Wilcox in 2001.
SHIRLEY PASTERNAK: The dispatcher for Troop D. Sandy Dearborn says that law enforcement would “fall apart in western Pennsylvania” without Police Communications Officer Pasternak. Shirley takes a liking to Ned and trains him in the art of dispatching.
ENNIS RAFFERTY: Besides his partner, Curtis Wilcox, Ennis Rafferty is the first member of Troop D to see the Buick Roadmaster. He is also its first victim, as he disappears shortly after the state troopers impound the car. Many years later, Sandy Dearborn glimpses Ennis’s hat on the other side of the portal contained in the Roadmaster’s trunk.
MISTER DILLON: The Troop D mascot, this friendly German shepherd instinctively fears the Buick Roadmaster. He will not enter Shed B. The dog gives up his life protecting his masters from a creature that emerges from the trunk of the Roadmaster.
TONY SCHOONDIST: Sergeant Commanding at the time the Buick Roadmaster entered the lives of the members of Troop D. Per Sandy Dearborn, Tony, along with Curtis Wilcox, became a Roadmaster (instead of Rhodes) scholar over the years, becoming especially sensitive to the warning signs the car gives off before something strange occurs in Shed B.
ARKY ARKANIAN: Troop D’s custodian is the first to see one of the creatures that emerge from the trunk of the Buick, a batlike monstrosity that makes most people sick just looking at it.
BRIAN LIPPY: Pulled over by a patrol car manned by troopers George Morgan and Eddie Jacubois for reckless driving, Lippy is arrested by the duo and brought to the Troop D barracks. Escaping during a moment of confusion, Lippy is apparently drawn to the Roadmaster and enters its trunk. Although he’s never seen again, Sandy sees a swastika Lippy wore when he briefly peers across the void into the other world.
HUDDIE ROYER: A member of Troop D, Huddie accompanies Arky Arkanian into Shed B the day the bat thing appears.
FROM A BUICK 8: TRIVIA
• In publicity for The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, King stated that From a Buick Eight was an explicit part of the Dark Tower continuity. Due to obvious connections within the text, some speculate that the Man in Black might have in fact been one of the Crimson King’s Low Men, and the Buick one of the flashy but subtly wrong automobiles that the Low Men favor. Certainly, a link to the Dark Tower continuity exists in that the Buick itself is a door to another reality—a mobile thinny, perhaps? Another, more tenuous connection lies in the name Dearborn. Sandy Dearborn is the primary narrator of Buick 8. When the young Roland travels to Mejis in Wizards and Glass, he assumes the alias Will Dearborn.
• The title, From a Buick 8, brings to mind the Bob Dylan song, “From a Buick 6,” featured on his album Highway 61 Revisited.
• According to King’s Author’s Note at the end of the book, his fictional town of Statler is just down the road from Rocksburg, “the town which serves as the locale for K. C. Constantine’s brilliant series of novels about small town police chief Mario Balzic.” King also points out in his Author’s Note that “liberties” have been taken with the Buick that appears on the hardcover’s dust jacket, noting that “Eight’s cover girl is several years older than the Buick in the story.” When asked if this bothered him, he said absolutely not—he was bothered more by the sneermouth grille, which he said looked “almost ready to gobble someone up.”
53
ROSE RED
(2002)
Filmed in Seattle over a four-month period in 2000, this six-hour miniseries premiered on ABC in January 2002. Written by King, it is said in the publicity materials for the show that Rose Red was the first script the author worked on “after the devastating accident that nearly ended his life.” Directed by Craig R. Baxley and produced by Mark Carliner (King’s collaborators on the 1999 miniseries Storm of the Century), it was presented over three nights, receiving respectable ratings.
Featuring a cast anchored by veteran actors Nancy Travis (playing Joyce Reardon), David Dukes, and Julian Sands (playing Professor Miller and Nick Hardaway, respectively), Rose Red tells the story of a decaying mansion located in Seattle, Washington. Built in 1907 by oil magnate John P. Rimbauer, the house, which is said to be haunted, has known its share of tragedy.
Believing the strange stories told about the house, Professor of Paranormal Studies Joyce Reardon wishes to study it. In order to “wake” the dormant haunted house, Reardon assembles a team consisting of six individuals, all possessing extrasensory skills. Reardon and her team enter the building and, to their dismay, succeed in their goal of rousing the spirits who haunt the mansion.
Rose Red had its beginnings in a project involving King and Steven Spielberg, the 1999 remake of The Haunting. Due to creative differences between the writer and director, King withdrew from that project. King, however, continued to pursue his idea of a “Moby Dick haunted house story.” The way King envisioned it, the story “would take off from the point of the Winchester House in San Jose, in which the widow of the Winchester Rifle magnates was told by a psychic, ‘As long as you’re not done building the house, you’ll stay alive.’”
The plot of the story resembles that of the classic novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; Rose Red’s basic story line, that of a team of researchers entering a haunted house, stirring up supernatural forces, is obviously derived from the Jackson classic. King’s cast of characters also bears a resemblance to Jackson’s. Standing in for intense Dr. John Montague is the intense Dr. Joyce Reardon. Standing in for Luke Sanderson, nephew of Hill House’s owner, is Steven Rimbauer, the last surviving Rimbauer. Standing in for Eleanor Vance is Annie Wheaton. Like Eleanor, Annie has also caused stones to rain from the sky. Elements of the story also bring to mind elements of other King stories. Constant Readers will recall that King paid homage to Jackson once before in Carrie, when the title character caused a rain of rocks to fall on her home.
The companion volume to the series, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red, thought originally to have been penned by King, was actually revealed to have been written by Ridley Pearson, who has appeared with King as part of the Rock Bottom Remainders. Telling the “backstory” of Rose Red, it, too, was later made into a miniseries. As additional publicity, the producers created a Web site for Beaumont University, Dr. Reardon’s place of employment.
Sadly, veteran character actor
David Dukes (Professor Miller) died shortly before filming was completed.
ROSE RED: PRIMARY SUBJECTS
ROSE RED: According to Dr. Joyce Reardon, this Seattle mansion was “born bad.” The house, which has claimed many victims over the decades, is now in a coma of sorts. Hoping to wake it up, Reardon assembles a team composed of members with wild talents to explore it with her.
Awakening Rose Red proves a bad idea. The hostile homestead, capable of shifting its architecture and floor plan, attacks its visitors, resulting in several gruesome deaths.
JOHN RIMBAUER: A Seattle oil magnate, Rimbauer used his vast wealth to build the Seattle mansion he named Rose Red. Abusive and unfaithful, Rimbauer made his wife Ellen miserable.
The Complete Stephen King Universe Page 42
