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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmof the frost, Louis—sounded like a piece of sticky tape comin off a letter. Live things don’t do that. Youonly stop meltin the frost under where you’re layin when you’re dead.”In the other room, the clock struck ten-thirty.“What did your father say when he came home and saw the dog?” Louis asked.“I was out in the driveway, shooting marbles in the dirt, more or less waitin for him. I felt like I alwaysfelt when I’d done something wrong and knew I was probably gonna get a spankin. He come in throughthe gateposts about eight o’clock, wearin his bib overalls and his pillow-tick cap . . . you ever seen oneof those?”Louis nodded, then stifled a yawn with the back of his hand.“Yeah, gettin late,” Jud said. “Got to finish this up.”“It’s not that late,” Louis said. “I’m just a few beers ahead of my usual pace. Go on, Jud. Take yourtime. I want to hear this.”“My dad had an old lard tin he kept his dinner in,” Jud said, “and he come in through the gate swingin it,empty, by the handle, you know. Whisflin somethin. It was gettin dark, but he seen me there in thegloom and he says, ‘Hi there, Judkins!’ like he would do, and then, ‘Where’s your—’“He got that far, and then here comes Spot out of the dark, not runnin like he usually did, ready to jumpall over him he was so glad to see him, but just walkin, waggin his tail, and my dad dropped that lardbucket and stepped back. I don’t know b’what he would have turned tail and run except his back hit thepicket fence and then he just stood there, looking at the dog. And when Spot did jump up, Dad justcaught his paws and held them, like you might hold a lady’s hands you was gettin ready to dance with.He looked at the dog for a long time and then he looked at me, and he said, ‘He needs a bath, Jud. Hestinks of the ground you buried him in.’ And then he went in the house.”“What did you do?” Louis asked.“Gave him another bath. He just sat there in the tub and took it again. And when I went in the house, mymother had gone to bed, even though it wasn’t even nine o’clock. My dad said, ‘We got to talk,Judkins.’ And I set down across from him, and he talked to me like a man for the first time in my lifewith the smell of the honeysuckle coming across the road from what’s your house now and the smell ofthe wild roses from our own house.”Jud Crandall sighed. “I had always thought it would be good to have him talk to me that way, but itwasn’t. It wasn’t a bit good. All this tonight, Louis—it’s like when you look into a mirror that’s been setfile:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (129 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM