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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmnice all the summer long. Not all of the adults in town know it’s there—a lot of them do, of course, butnot all, not by a long chalk—but all of the kids do. I’d bet on it.”“Know what’s there?”“The pet cemetery,” Crandall said.“Pet cemetery,” Louis repeated, bemused.“It’s not as odd as it prob’ly sounds,” Crandall said, smoking and rocking. “It’s the road. It uses up a lotof animals, that road does. Dogs and cats, mostly, but that ain’t all. One of those big Orinco trucks rundown the pet raccoon the Ryder -children used to keep. That was back—Christ, must have been in ‘73,maybe earlier. Before the state made keeping a coon or even a denatured skunk illegal, anyway.”“Why did they do that?”“Rabies,” Crandall said. “Lot of rabies in Maine now. There was a big old St. Bernard went rabiddownstate a couple of years ago and killed four people. That was a hell of a thing. Dog hadn’t had hisshots. If those foolish people hadseen that dog had had its shots, it never would have happened. But a coon or a skunk, you can vaccinateit twice a year and still it don’t always take. But that coon the Ryder boys had, that was what theoldtimers used to call a ‘sweet coon.’ It’d waddle right up to you—gorry, wa’n’t he fat!—and lick yourface like a dog. Their dad even paid a vet to spay him and declaw him. That must have cost him acountry fortune!“Ryder, he worked for IBM in Bangor. They went out to Colorado five years ago . . . or maybe it wassix. Funny to think of those two almost old enough to drive. Were they broken up over that coon? Iguess they were. Matty Ryder cried so long his mom got scared and wanted to take him to the doctor. Ispose he’s over it now, but they never forget. When a good animal gets run down in the road, a kid neverforgets.”Louis’s mind turned to Ellie as he had last seen her tonight, fast asleep with Church purring rustily onthe foot of the mattress.“My daughter’s got a cat,” he said. “Winston Churchill. We call him Church for short.”“Do they climb when he walks?”“I beg your pardon?” Louis had no idea what he was talking about.file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Ste...%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (15 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM