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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm“Okay,” Louis said, “what are you doing over here at quarter past twelve on the morning my son getsburied? You’re a friend, Jud, but this is stretching it.”Jud drank, wiped his mouth with the heel of his hand, and looked directly at Louis. There was somethingclear and positive in his eyes, and Louis at last looked down from it.“You know why I’m here,” Jud said. “You’re thinking about things that are not to be thought of, Louis.Worse still, I fear you’re considering them.”“I wasn’t thinking about anything but going up to bed,” Louis said. “I have a burying to go to tomorrow.”“I’m responsible for more pain in your heart than you should have tonight,” Jud said softly. “For all Iknow, I may even have been responsible for the death of your son.”Louis looked up, startled. “What—? Jud, don’t talk crazy!”“You are thinking of trying to put him up there,” Jud said. “Don’t you deny the thought has crossed yourmind, Louis.”Louis did not reply.“How far does its influence extend?” Jud said. “Can you tell me that? No. I can’t answer that questionmyself, and I’ve lived my whole life in this patch of the world. I know about the Micmacs, and thatplace was always considered to be a kind of holy place to them. . . but not in a good way. Stanny B. toldme that. My father told me too—later on. After Spot died the second time. Now the Micmacs, the stateof Maine, and the government of the United States are arguing in court about who owns that land. Whodoes own it? No one really knows, Louis. Not anymore. Different people laid claim to it at one time oranother, but no claim ever stuck. Anson Ludlow, the great-grandson of this town’s founding father, forone. His claim was maybe the best for a white man, since Joseph Ludlow the Elder had the wholeshebang as a grant from Good King Georgie back when Maine was just a big province of theMassachusetts Bay Colony. But even then he would have been in a hell of a court fight because therewas cross-claims to the land by other Ludlows and by a fellow named Peter Dimmart, who claimed hecould prove pretty convincingly that he was a Ludlow on the other side of the sheets. And JosephLudlow the Elder was money-poor but land-rich toward the end of his life, and every now and then he’djust gift somebody with two or four hundred acres when he got into his cups.”“Were none of those deeds recorded?” Louis asked, fascinated in spite of himself.“Oh, they were regular bears for recording deeds, were our grandfathers,” Jud said, lighting a newcigarette from the butt of the old one. “The original grant on your land goes like this.” Jud closed hiseyes and quoted, “From the great old maple which stands atop Quinceberry Ridge to the verge offile:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (206 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM