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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm“Yes,” she said. “Just don’t forget me.”“No, I won’t.”He got up again, and she tugged his hand again.“Daddy?”“What, babe?”“Don’t drop her,” Ellie whispered.Louis joined the others, and Jud introduced him to the nephews, who were really second or thirdcousins . . . descendants of Jud’s father’s brother. They were big fellows in their twenties with a strongfacial resemblance. Norma’s brother was somewhere in his late fifties, Louis guessed, and while thestrain of a death in the family was on his face, he seemed to be bearing up well.“Pleased to meet you all,” Louis said. He felt a trifle uncomfortable—an outsider in the family circle.They nodded at him.“Ellie okay?” Jud asked and nodded to her. She was lingering in the vestibule, watching.Sure—she just wants to make sure I don’t go up in a puff of smoke, Louis thought and almost smiled.But then that thought called up another one: Oz the Gweat and Tewwible. And the smile died.“Yes, I think so,” Louis said and raised a hand to her. She raised hers in return and went outside then ina swirl of navy blue dress. For a moment Louis was uneasily struck by how adult she looked. It was thesort of illusion, no matter how fleeting, that could give a man pause.“You guys ready?” one of the nephews asked.Louis nodded; so did Norma’s younger brother.“Take it easy with her,” Jud said. His voice had roughened. Then he turned away and walked slowly upthe aisle with his head down.Louis moved to the back left corner of the steel-gray American Eternal coffin Jud had chosen for hiswife. He laid hold of his runner and the four of them slowly carried Norma’s coffin outinto the bright still cold of February first. Someone—the church custodian, he supposed—had laid downfile:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (170 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM