ebEpvI

file:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Stephen%20King%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htmbelieve it if one of your own kids got a call on the Bone-Phone. My kid? My kid’s cat, even? Doctor,you must be joking.Never mind. Take this one step at a time.But that was hard when he remembered how hysterical Ellie had gotten at the prospect of Churchsomeday dying.Stupid fucking cat, why did we ever have to get a fucking cat, anyway?But he wasn’t tucking anymore. That was supposed to keep him alive.“Church?” he called, but there was only the furnace, muttering and muttering, burning up dollars. Thecouch in the living room, where Church had recently spent most of his time, was empty. He was notlying on any of the radiators. Louis rattled the cat’s dish, the one thing absolutely guaranteed to bringChurch running if he was in earshot, but no cat came running this time.and never would again, he was afraid.He put on his coat and hat and started for the door. Then he came back. Giving in to what his heart toldhim, he opened the cupboard under the sink and squatted down. There were two kinds of plastic bags inthere—small white ones for the household trash baskets and big green garbage-can liners. Louis tookone of the latter. Church had put on weight since he had been fixed.He poked the bag into one of the side pockets of his jacket, not liking the slick, cool way the plastic feltunder his fingers. Then he let himself out the front door and crossed the street to Jud’s house.It was about five-thirty. Twilight was ending. The landscape had a dead look. The remainder of sunsetwas a strange orange line on the horizon across the river. The wind bowled straight down Route 15,numbing Louis’s cheeks and whipping away thewhite plume of his breath. He shuddered, but not from the cold. It was a feeling of aloneness that madehim shudder. It was strong and persuasive. There seemed no way to concretize it with a metaphor. It wasfaceless. He just felt by himself, untouched and untouching.He saw Jud across the road, bundled up in his big green dufile coat, his face lost in the shadow cast bythe fur-fringed hood. Standing on his frozen lawn, he looked like a piece of statuary, just another deadthing in this twilight landscape where no bird sang.Louis started across, and then Jud moved—waved him back. Shouted something Louis could not makeout over the pervasive whine of the wind. Louis stepped back, realizing suddenly that the wind’s whinefile:///E|/Funny%20&%20Weird%20Shit/75%20-%20Ste...%20Books/Stephen%20King%20-%20Pet%20Sematary.htm (92 of 333)7/28/2005 9:21:49 PM