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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmChurch curled up on his chest like a stinking blanket . . . Church had been purring that night. It had beenmaking some sound, anyway.But as Jud Crandall had known—or guessed—it had not beenall bad. Louis found a broken window down-cellar behind the furnace, and when the glazier fixed it, hehad saved them yea bucks in wasted heating oil. For calling his attention to the broken pane, which hemight not have discovered for weeks— months, maybe—he supposed he even owed Church a vote ofthanks.Ellie no longer wanted Church to sleep with her, that was true, but sometimes when she was watchingTV, she would let the cat hop up on her lap and go to sleep. But just as often, he thought, huntingthrough the bag of plastic widgets that were supposed to hold Ellie’s Bat-Cycle together, she would pushhim down after a few minutes, saying, “Go on, Church, you stink.” She fed him regularly and with love,and even Gage was not above giving old Church an occasional tail tug . . . more in the spirit offriendliness than in one of meanness, Louis was convinced; he was like a tiny monk yanking a furry bellrope. At these times Church would crawl lackadaisically under one of the radiators where Gage couldn’tget him.We might have noticed more differences with a dog, Louis thought, but cats are such goddamindependent animals anyway. Independent and odd. Fey even. It didn’t surprise him that the oldEgyptian queens and pharaohs had wanted their cats mummified and popped into their triangular tombswith them in order to serve as spirit guides in the next world. Cats were weird.“How you doing with that Bat-Cycle, Chief?”He held out the finished product. “Ta-dat”Rachel pointed at the bag, which still had three or four plastic widgets in it. “What are those?”“Spares,” Louis said, smiling guiltily.“You better hope they’re spares. The kid will break her rotten little neck.”“That comes later,” Louis said maliciously. “When she’s twelve and showing off on her newskateboard.”She groaned. “Come on, Doc, have a heart!”Louis stood up, put his hands on the small of his back, and twisted his torso. His spine crackled. “That’sall the toys.”file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (147 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM