ebEpvI

file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmcorner of his eye; his hands, which had been groping on the bottom of the sink for any leftoversilverware, were still. He saw Ellie’s happy face change slowly to puzzlement. The cat lay quiet in herarms, its ears laid back, its eyes on hers.After a long moment—it seemed very long to Louis—she put Church down. The cat padded awaytoward the dining room without looking back. Executioner of small mice, Louis thought randomly.Christ, what did we do that night?He tried honestly to remember, but it already seemed far away, dim and distant, like the messy death ofVictor Pascow on the floor of the infirmary’s reception room. He could remember carriages of windpassing in the sky and the white glimmer of snow in the back field which rose to the woods. That was all.“Daddy?” Ellie said in a low, subdued voice.‘What, Ellie?”“Church smells funny.”“Does he?” Louis asked, his voice carefully neutral.“Yes!” Ellie said, distressed. “Yes, he does! He never smelled funny before! He smells like. . . he smellslike ka-ka!”“Well, maybe he rolled in something bad, honey,” Louis said. “Whatever that bad smell is, he’ll lose it.”“I certainly hope so,” Ellie said in a comical dowager’s voice. She walked off.Louis found the last fork, washed it, and pulled the plug. He stood at the sink, looking out into the nightwhile the soapy water ran down the drain with a thick chuckling sound.When the sound from the drain was gone he could hear the wind outside, thin and wild, coming from thenorth, bringing down winter, and he realized he was afraid, simply, stupidly afraid, the way you areafraid when a cloud suddenly sails across the sun and somewhere you hear a ticking sound you can’taccount for.“A hundred and three?” Rachel asked. “Jesus, Lou! Are you sure?”“It’s a virus,” Louis said. He tried not to let Rachel’s voice, which seemed almost accusatory, grate onhim. She was tired. It had been a long day for her; she had crossed half the country with her kids today.Here it was eleven o’clock, and the day wasn’t over yet. Ellie was deeply asleep in her room. Gage wason their bed in a state that could best be described as semiconscious.file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (137 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM