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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htma little stupid. . . a little slow. . . a little. . .“ “A little dead?”“Yeah,” Jud said. “A little dead. Like they had been. . . somewhere . . . and came back. . . but not all theway. Now, your daughter isn’t going to know that, Louis. Not that her cat was hit by a car, and killed,and came back. So you could say you can’t teach a child a lesson unless the child knows there’s a lessonto be learned. Except . .“Except sometimes you can,” Louis said, more to himself than to Jud.“Yes,” Jud agreed, “sometimes you can. Maybe she’ll learn something about what death really is, whichis where the pain stops and the good memories begin. Not the end of life, but the end of pain. You don’ttell her those things; she will figure them out on her own.“And if she’s anything like me, she’ll go on loving her pet. It won’t turn vicious, or bite, or anything likethat. She’ll go on loving it . . . but she’ll draw her own conclusions . . . and she’ll breathe a sigh of reliefwhen it finally dies.”“That’s why you took me up there,” Louis said. He felt better now. He had an explanation. It wasdiffuse, it relied more upon the logic of the nerve endings than the logic of the rational mind, but underthe circumstances, he found he could accept that. And it meant he could forget the expression he thoughthe had seen on Jud’s face briefly last night—that dark, capering glee. “Okay, that’s—”Abruptly, almost shockingly, Jud covered his face with both hands. For one moment Louis thought hehad been struck by a sudden pain, and he half-rose, concerned, until he saw the convulsive heave of thechest and realized that the old man was struggling not to cry.“That’s why, but it ain’t why,” he said in a strangled, chokedvoice. “I did it for the same reason Stanny B. did it and for the same reason Lester Morgan did it. Lestertook Linda Lavesque up there after her dog got run over in the road. He took her up there even thoughhe had to put his goddam bull out of its misery for chasing kids through its pasture like it was mad. Hedid it anyway, he did it anyway, Louis,” Jud almost moaned, “and what the Christ do you make of that!”“Jud, what are you talking about?” Louis asked, alarmed.“Lester did it and Stanny did it for the same reason I did it. You do it because it gets hold of you. You doit because that burial place is a secret place, and you want to share the secret, and when you find areason that seems good enough, why. . .“ Jud took his hands away from his face and looked at Louiswith eyes that seemed incredibly ancient, incredibly haggard. “Why then you just go ahead and do it.You make up reasons. . . they seem like good reasons . . but mostly you do it because you want to. Orbecause you have to. My dad, he didn’t take me up there because he’d heard about it but he’d neverbeen. Stanny B. had been up there. . . and he took me. . and seventy years go by. . . and then. . . all atfile:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (131 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM