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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmThere was something very familiar in this rap, something eerily familiar. Then he got it, and his mouthsuddenly pulled together in a tight pucker, as if he had bitten straight through a plump yellow lemon.Rachel’s way—she was completely unaware of it, Louis was sure—of saying contritely, Louis, I’msorry I was such a bitch, after her bitchiness had gotten her her own way about something she reallywanted. Here was that voice—robbed of Rachel’s liveliness and merriness, true—but that same voicesaying, I’m sorry 1 was such a bastard, Louis.The old man was getting his daughter and granddaughter back; they were running home from Maine toDaddy. Courtesy of Delta and United, they were coming back to where they belonged, back to whereIrwin Goldman wanted them. Now he could afford to be magnanimous. As far as old Irwin knew, he hadwon. So let’s just forget that I took a swing at you over your dead son’s body, Louis, or that I kicked youwhen you were down, or that I knocked his coffin off its bier and snapped the latch so you could see—orthink you saw—that one last flash of your child’s hand. Let’s forget all of that. Let bygones be bygones.Terrible as it may be, Irwin, you old prick, I’d wish for you to drop dead right this second, if it wouldn’tscrew up my plans.“That’s all right, Mr. Goldman,” he said evenly. “It was . well. . . an emotional day for all of us.”“It was not all right,” he persisted, and Louis realized— although he did not want to—that Goldman wasnot just being political, was not just saying that he was sorry he had been such a bastard now that he wasgetting his own way. The man was nearly weeping, and he was speaking with a slow and tremblingurgency. “It was a terrible day for all of us. Thanks to me.Thanks to a stupid, bullheaded old man. I hurt my daughter when she needed my help . . . I hurt you, andmaybe you needed my help too, Louis. That you do this. . . behave this wayafter I behaved that way. . . it makes me feel like garbage. And I think that is just the way I should feel.”Oh let him stop this, let him stop before 1 start to scream at him and blow the whole deal.“Rachel’s probably told you, Louis, we had another daughter—”“Zelda,” Louis said. “Yes, she told me about Zelda.”“It was difficult,” Goldman said in that trembling voice. “Difficult for all of us. Most difficult forRachel, perhaps—Rachel was there when Zelda died—but difficult for Dory and me too. Dory almosthad a breakdown—”What do you think Rachel had? Louis wanted to shout. Do you think a kid can’t have a nervousbreakdown? Twenty years later she’s still jumping at death’s shadow. And now this happens. Thismiserable, awful thing. It’s a minor miracle that she isn’t in the fucking hospital, being fed through an I.file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20St...20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (237 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM