by Rocky Wood
Suddenly the kid’s father ‘finds’ Becky. She screams for him to stay away - that sets Cal into a blind run. The man (‘his cheeks were stubbly, his lips red’) says he knows how to get out of the grass but Becky sees through that, asking why he was still there if that were the case. He claims he only needs to find his son – he’s found his wife Natalie and asks Becky if she wants to meet her. Although she does not trust him and he’s clearly mad, Becky feels she has no choice but to follow him. Even though she can hear Cal calling from far away and she knows she should answer she just doesn’t have it in her. The madman identifies himself as Ross Humbolt and continues to rave, throwing in a dirty limerick that Becky had thought of earlier. Thinking of self-defense from the maniac she takes the key from their New Hampshire house and sets it between two fingers.
The horror escalates when they reach Ross’s wife - dead in the grass – Now Becky knows why Ross’ lips were red. Fresh blood on the grass, an arm torn off the body’s shoulder with ‘divots’ in her thighs and one in the discarded arm, all explained by Ross in maniacal terms – the family had been in the grass for a while. “Folks can get pretty hungry … I’m full now, though.” Ross starts rambling about taking Becky to a rock and asking her if she wants to feel it naked, with him in her. Telling her that, if she learns to listen, the grass has things to tell. He claims the rock has taught him many things but “oh, girl, it’s so fucking thirsty.” A strange lethargy is settling over her as Ross grabs her throat and tightens his grip but she summons enough will to stab him in the face with the house key. The spell broken, she buries the key in his eye – instead of screaming he utters a grunt and attacks her again, kneeing her repeatedly in the stomach, raising her fears for the unborn child. As they struggle his ravings include information he can’t possibly know – her surname, their destination of San Diego. Seizing a pair of manicuring scissors that has spilled from the dead woman’s purse, she stabs him again and again the face until he first screams, then subsides into ‘sobbing guffaws of laughter.’ Then silence and Becky’s mind goes blank … until moonrise.
Cal hears all this distantly, without fine detail, as hysteria overtakes him again. When the silence descends he regains control and calls for Becky but receives nothing in reply. When their car alarm sounds it strikes Cal that the locals must know all about the field – perhaps unwary tourists were their sacrifice to it? Tobin appears, eating a dead crow, which Cal snatches from him. Tobin explains that “when you touch the rock you can see”, the crows weren’t that bad to eat and he hadn’t eaten any of Freddy, although his father had. Freddy, he explains, was the family dog. Dead things were easier to find, as the grass didn’t move them around. Tobin also informs him that “the rock teaches you to hear the grass, and the tall grass knows everything,” before disappearing back into the foliage. Following, Cal finds himself in a clearing – and there is the rock, black, the size of a pickup truck and ‘inscribed all over with tiny dancing stick men.’ The figures seem to float as Tobin invites Cal to touch the rock.
Becky crawls in the grass, away from Ross, suffering severe cramps. When she is finally able to stop and look, she finds her shorts and panties soaked with blood: “The baby!” Unable to control her body, the fetus is delivered – a girl, ‘…so small. And so silent’.
Cal finds it impossible to determine whether the dancing figures on the rock are above the surface or engraved on it. As he approaches he begins to hear the rock emit a buzzing sound. Tobin tells Cal Becky has miscarried and, when Cal denies this, the boy says he can see her in the rock. Sure enough, a faint image shows Becky’s face tormented with pain. Cal feels himself being pulled closer to the rock as if it has its own gravity and finally the rock wins, as Cal presses his face to its cool surface.
Becky dreams of walking out of the grass to the car, then driving through her hometown. She is looking for a girl she’s been babysitting, who has wandered off while she had a phone text argument with Travis McKean, the father of her baby. After what seems like days of searching for her charge, she hears a girl calling from some high grass on the other side of a baseball field. She awakes from this nightmare to find Cal beside her, cackling in the grip of madness and holding the dead baby in a tee-shirt. Tobin appears, declaring the baby “scrumptious”. Becky loses consciousness and when she comes to sees Cal eating what appears to be a doll’s leg, and Tobin licking ‘strawberry jelly’ from his fingers before darkness claims her again. When she next recovers consciousness Cal is feeding her and she forces the food down as Tobin crows, “Yum, yum. Get that l’il baby right down.”
Becky later demands to know what they’d eaten – Cal claims it was just grass but she remembers something salty, tasting like sardines. Her brother and the boy guide her to the rock, she tries to struggle but the rock seems to draw her on – ‘She thought: All flesh is grass. / Becky DeMuth hugged the rock.’
In the next scene seven latter day hippies in a beat up old RV pull into the church parking lot. They had ‘busted mega-amounts of dope and all of them were hungry.’ One hears a woman calling from the tall grass on the opposite side of the road, another a little kid calling for help. One of the past middle age women – Ma Cool – surveys the field, which seems to stretch to the horizon and thinks, I bet all of Kansas looked that way before the people came and spoiled it all. The group quickly decides they must rescue the people calling for help and once rescued feed them, and all seven plunge into the grass together.
With faint echoes of Children of the Corn and recalling the disorientation of King’s Lovecraftian tale N, this tale is strange and haunting. Hopefully, it will receive a wider readership if published in King’s next short fiction collection, or perhaps Hill’s.
The Rock and Roll Dead Zone
This amusing little tale (almost a fictional anecdote) was first published in Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (Of Authors) Tells All, edited by Sam Barry and Jennifer Lou[xliv]. The book is an eclectic celebration of the Rock and Roll Remainders, a ‘garage band’ of writers King has been involved with since 1992. The much better known book about the band is Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude edited by Dave Marsh[xlv].
The story was designed as part of an ‘interactive feature’ where readers had to guess which of four short stories was written by King. As a result the story doesn’t carry King’s by-line in the book. Frankly, it wasn’t difficult to identify the correct story as King himself is the narrator and protagonist of the tale! The setting is King’s home (and he mentions he is a ‘poor boy from Maine’) so it seems safe to conclude this is a Maine Street Horror tale.
King returns to his home after a tiring book tour, only to find Edward Gooch (‘aka Goochie, also aka the Gooch’), a friend since grade school, waiting for him. King loves him ‘like a brother’ but unfortunately the down on his luck two hundred and eighty pound man has a fascination for bringing outrageously expensive business ideas to ‘Steve’, some inevitably involving the Gooch’s love of rock and roll.
Goochie tells King he could have taken the idea to Dave Barry (another member of the Rock Bottom Remainders) but Steve is a better prospect for ‘large concepts’. This idea could cost thirty million dollars! King tries to get rid of his friend, as all he wants to do is rest but ends up promising ‘ten minutes’. The Gooch presents his concept via illustrations on cardboard squares – the first is the project’s title – ‘The Rock and Roll Dead Zone’. “What, exactly, is a rock and roll dead zone? Other than a rip on a book I wrote a thousand years ago?” King asks.
Goochie proceeds through an array of theme park attractions, each worse ideas and puns on songs than the last. Worse still, many are songs long forgotten. One idea is ‘a mock up’ of the plane ‘that Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson were riding in’. No matter what King’s objections are Goochie has an answer, although none are very good, and he totally misses ironic or sarcastic comments by his author friend. In the meantime King
manages to get off some humorous shots at other members of the Rock Bottom Remainders.
Finally, King sees a way out – but you’ll have to read the story for that.
This is a terrifically amusing story and King gets to show off some of his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music. It proves again that satire is a mode in which he has all the moves and makes us pine for a few more stories in this vein. It is very unlikely that this story will appear in one of King’s mainstream collections as it would lack context and provide a jarring note when juxtaposed against other King tales.
Summer Thunder
This gentle post-apocalyptic New Worlds short story was published in an anthology, Turn Down the Lights, edited by Richard Chizmar[xlvi]. It seems to echo Graduation Afternoon (both stories involve nuclear attacks on the United States) and Herman Wouk Is Still Alive (the theme of suicide). The anthology is available from online booksellers or the publisher, Cemetery Dance Publications, directly.
The story opens with Robinson, who has rescued a dog named Gandalf. The animal’s presence was some help dealing with the loss of his wife and daughter. After finding Gandalf he drove to the abandoned and looted country store five miles away to get dog food, which had been left by the looters. It seems that after ‘June Sixth, pets had been about the last thing on people’s minds.’
Although his wife had stored food at their Vermont lake retreat against ‘the apocalypse’, she had been in Boston when it came, so Robinson ate for one, knowing the food would last longer. That summer was beautiful but growing silent – his friend Timlin pointed out most birds were gone and Robinson had seen the dead larger animals for himself. When the wind blew from the east the reek of death was tremendous and the heat of summer didn’t help – ‘… Robinson wanted to know what had happened to nuclear winter.’
Each day Robinson walked the dog over to Howard Timlin’s place two miles away at Woodland Acres, once a pricey gated tourist spot with up-scale ‘cottages’. The owners had swallowed pills in early July, leaving Timlin the sole survivor in residence. The walk was picturesque, with views from the road high above the lake. ‘At one point, where the road buttonhooked sharply’ a sign advised caution to drivers; ‘the summer kids of course called this hairpin Dead Man’s Curve’.
The two men talked of the past and their limited future – Robinson the more sanguine of the two; Timlin the doomsayer - constantly searched for signs of radiation poisoning, finding a patch of the dog’s fur which came out easily when pulled and reporting that he’d lost a tooth. Timlin also enquired after Robinson’s motorcycle, which he had promised his wife he would sell when he turned fifty. An empty promise now that all the cities of the Eastern seaboard, including Boston were ‘now mostly slag’. Anyway, the bike’s battery was dead.
On the way home Gandalf collapsed and was clearly dying later that evening: ‘It’s happening so fast,’ he [Robinson] thought. This morning he was fine.’ Robinson went out to the lean-to to inspect the motorcycle – a 2014 Fat Bob, ‘several years old now’. By the morning Gandalf was much worse but Robinson decided to head into Bennington in his Silverado to see if he could find a replacement battery for the motorcycle. Dropping into Timlin’s to ask if he needed anything he found his friend very ill and, although he said he didn’t need anything, asked Robinson to drop by on the return trip as he had something Robinson might want.
In Bennington, Robinson found a live battery at the local Harley-Davidson franchise. Returning, he found Timlin in a worse state and preparing to commit suicide: ‘Robinson recognized the absurdity of the first thing that came to mind – Let’s not be hasty – and managed to stay silent.’ Timlin intended to shoot himself and offered Robinson a hypo of Demerol to euthanize Gandalf.
When Robinson got home he found Gandalf still alive, happy to see his new master but unable to get up. As Robinson prepared to give the dog his final injection he heard the faint sound of a single gunshot roll across the lake. Robinson administered the injection ‘and in the endless moment before the brightness left [Gandalf’s eyes], Robinson would have taken it back if he could.’ He buried the dog and next morning awoke to find his gums and nose had bled in the night.
Robinson replaced the motor cycle’s battery, ‘hit the ignition and the sound of summer thunder shattered the quiet.’ He mounted the bike and rolled out the driveway and onto the road, building up speed on a straight stretch. Seeing the safety sign denoting Dead Man’s Curve he ‘aimed for the sign and twisted the throttle all the way. He just had time to hit fifth gear.’
AFTERWORD
And that is the end of King’s new fiction for now. Stephen King is now 66 but shows no signs of slowing down. We can expect at least a novel a year for some years, and probably two to four short stories every twelve months as well.
King researchers continue our search for the lost stories – as we can see from this update volume they are still to be found.
So, Constant Readers, enjoy!
Melbourne, Australia
19 March 2014
Appendix: Stephen King’s Fiction
The following is a list of all known King fiction published or announced as at 19 March 2014. Where the author of this volume has assessed that the story appears in different versions or variations (see Chapter 4 of Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished, Fourth Edition – Variations and Versions in King’s Fiction for more detail) these are listed individually. Otherwise, only the first point of publication and any inclusions in a King collection are listed.
The codes used below are: (a) = Abridgement; (e) = Excerpt (n) = New Version; (r) = Reprint; (v) = Variation.
Afterlife — Tin House, Summer 2013
The Aftermath — Unpublished Novel
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away — The New Yorker, 29 January 2001
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away — Everything’s Eventual (v)
American Vampire — Graphic Novel
An Evening at God’s — Unpublished Play
Apt Pupil — Different Seasons
Autopsy Room Four — Six Stories
Autopsy Room Four — Everything’s Eventual (r)
Ayana — Paris Review, Fall 2007
Ayana — Just After Sunset (r)
Bad Little Kid — eBook in French and German
Bag of Bones — Novel
The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet — The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1984
The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet — Secret Windows
Batman — Unpublished Play
Batman and Robin Have an Altercation — Harper’s Magazine, September 2012
Battleground — Cavalier, September 1972
Battleground — Night Shift (v)
Battleground — Night Shift Screenplay (n)
Beachworld — Weird Tales, Fall 1984
Beachworld – Skeleton Crew (v)
The Bear - The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1990
The Bear - The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (n)
Before the Play — Whispers, August 1982
Before the Play — TV Guide, 26 April – 2 May 1997 (a)
The Beggar and the Diamond - Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Beneath the Demon Moon — Paperback Giveaway
Beneath the Demon Moon — The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
Big Driver — Full Dark, No Stars
Big Wheels - A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2) - New Terrors 2
Big Wheels - A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2) - Skeleton Crew (n)
The Bird and the Album — A Fantasy Reader: The Seventh World Fantasy Convention Program Book
The Bird and the Album - It (n)
Black House — Novel
Black Ribbons — Black Ribbons (album), 2010
Blaze — Novel
Blind Willie — Antaeus, Autumn 1994
Blind Willie — Six Stories (v)
Blind Willie — Hearts in Atlantis (n)
Blockade Billy — Novella
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The Blue Air Compressor — Onan, January 1971
The Blue Air Compressor — Heavy Metal, July 1981 (v)
The Body — Different Seasons
The Bone Church — Playboy, November 2009
The Boogeyman — Cavalier, March 1973
The Boogeyman — Night Shift (v)
The Breathing Method — Different Seasons
Brooklyn August — Io, 1971
Brooklyn August — Nightmares and Dreamscapes (r)
But Only Darkness Loves Me — Unpublished Short Story
Cain Rose Up — Ubris, Spring 1968
Cain Rose Up — Skeleton Crew (n)
Calla Bryn Sturgis — www.stephenking.com
Calla Bryn Sturgis — The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (n)
The Cannibals — www.stephenking.com
Carrie — Novel
The Cat From Hell — Cavalier, June 1977
The Cat From Hell — Just After Sunset
Cat’s Eye — Unpublished Screenplay
Cell — Novel
Chapter 71 – Sword in the Darkness — Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished
Charlie — Unpublished Short Story
Chattery Teeth — Cemetery Dance, Fall 1992
Chattery Teeth — Nightmares and Dreamscapes (n)
Children of the Corn — Penthouse, March 1977
Children of the Corn — Night Shift (n)
Children of the Corn — Unpublished Screenplay (n)
Chinga — Unpublished Screenplay
Chip Coombs — Unpublished Story
Christine — Novel
Code Name: Mousetrap — The Drum, 27 October 1965
The Colorado Kid — Novel
Comb Dump — Unpublished Story
The Crate — Gallery, July 1979
The Crate — Creepshow Screenplay (n)
