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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmA chill of such elemental force struck him that Louis clutchedhimself as the shudder twisted through his body. He suddenly found himself remembering Ellie’s firstday of school, how Gage had gone to sleep on his lap while he and Rachel were listening to Ellie prattleon about “Old MacDonald” and Mrs. Berryman; he had said Just let me put the baby to bed, and whenhe took Gage upstairs a horrible premonition had struck him, and now he understood: Back inSeptember part of him had known Gage was going to die soon. Part of him had known that Oz theGweat and Tewwible was at hand. It was nonsense, it was rot, it was superstitious bullshit of the purestray serene . . . and it was true. He had known. Louis spilled some of his beer on his shirt, and Churchlooked up wearily to see if this was a signal that the evening's cat-kicking festivities were about tocommence.Louis suddenly remembered the question he had asked Jud; he remembered the way Jud’s arm hadjerked, knocking two empty beer bottles off the table. One of them had shattered. You don’t even wantto talk about such things, Louis!But he did want to talk about them—or at least think about them. The Pet Sematary. What was beyondthe Pet Sematary. The idea had a deadly attraction. It made a balance of logic which was impossible todeny. Church had been killed in the road; Gage had been killed in the road. Here was Church— changedof course, distasteful in some ways—but here. Ellie, Gage, and Rachel all had a working relationshipwith him. He killed birds, true, and had turned a few mice inside out, but killing small animals was a catthing to do. Church had by no means turned into Frankencat. He was, in many ways, as good as ever.You’re rationalizing, a voice whispered. He’s not as good as ever. He’s spooky. The crow, Louis. . .remember the crow?“Good God,” Louis said aloud in a shaky, distracted voice he was barely able to recognize as his own.God, oh yes, fine, sure. If there had ever been a time to invoke the name of God outside of a novel aboutghosts or vampires, this was it. So just what—what in the name of God—was he thinking about? He wasthinking about a dark blasphemy which he was even now not wholly able to credit. Worse, he wastelling himself lies. Not just rationalizing, but outright lying.So what’s the truth? You want the truth so fucking bad, what’s the truth?That Church wasn’t really a cat anymore at all—start with that. He looked like a cat, and he acted like acat, but he was really only a poor imitation. People couldn’t actually see through that imitation, but theycould feel through it. He remembered a night when Chariton had been at the house. The occasion hadbeen a small pre-Christmas dinner party. They’d been sitting in here, talking after the meal, and Churchhad jumped up in her lap. Chariton had pushed the cat off immediately, a quick and instinctive moue ofdistaste puckering her mouth.file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (202 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM