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file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmNot if my wife has anything to say about it.“Come on over tomorrow night and tell me how it went up at the college, if you get the chance,” Judsaid. “I’ll whup you at cribbage.”“Well, maybe I’ll get you drunk first,” Louis said. “Double-skunk you.”“Doc,” Jud said with great sincerity, “the day I get double-skunked at cribbage would be the day I’d let aquack like you treat me.”He left on their laughter and crossed the road to his own house in the late-summer dark.Rachel was sleeping with the baby, curled up on her side of the bed in a fetal, protective position. Hesupposed she would get over it—there had been other arguments and times of coldness in their marriage,but this one was surely the worst of the lot. He felt sad and angry and unhappy all at the same time,wanting to make it up but not sure how, not even sure that the first move should come from him. It wasall so pointless—only a capful of wind somehow blown up to hurricane proportions by a trick of themind. Other fights and arguments, yes, sure, but only a few as bitter as the one over Ellie’s tears andquestions. He supposed it didn’t take a great many blows like that before the marriage sustainedstructural damageand then one day, instead of reading about it in a note from a friend (“Well, I suppose I ought to tell youbefore you hear it from someone else, Lou; Maggie and I are splitting . . .“) or in the newspaper, it wasyou.He undressed to his shorts quietly and set the alarm for 6 A.M. Then he showered, washed his hair,shaved, and crunched up a Rolaid before brushing his teeth—Norma’s iced tea had given him acidindigestion. Or maybe it was coming home and seeing Rachel way over on her side of the bed. Territoryis that which defines all else, hadn’t he read that in some college history course?Everything done, the evening put neatly away, he went to bed. . . but couldn’t sleep. There wassomething else, something that nagged at him. The last two days went around and around in his head ashe listened to Rachel and Gage breathing nearly in tandem. GEN. PATTON HANNAH THE BESTDOG THAT EVER LIVED -. MARIA OUR PET RABIT... Ellie, furious. I don’t want Church to everbe dead!. . . He’s not God’s cat!Let God have His own cat! Rachel, equally furious. You as a doctor should know. . . Norma Crandallsaying It just seems like people want to forget it . . . And Jud, his voice terribly sure, terribly certain, avoice from another age: Sometimes it took supper with you and sometimes you could feel it biteyour ass.file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Ste...%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (43 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM