The Shining

“What?” Da

“Nothin!” Hallora

“Oh,” Da

“Or you take the race track. I go a lot, and I usually do pretty well. I stand by the rail when they go by the starting gate, and sometimes I get a little shine about this horse or that one. Usually those feelins help me get real well. I always tell myself that someday I'm go

“Yes, sir,” Da

“Now you listen,” Hallora

“Yes, sir,” Da

“Well, Ullman fired her on account of her saying she'd seen something in one of the rooms where… well, where a bad thing happened. That was in Room 217, and I want you to promise me you won't go in there, Da

“All right,” Da

“Yes, she did. And there was a bad thing there. But… I don't think it was a bad thing that could hurt anyone, Da

“Yes,” he said, thinking of the story of Bluebeard and the picture where Bluebeard's new wife opens the door and sees all the heads.

“But you knew it couldn't hurt you, didn't you?”

“Ye-ess…” Da

“Well, that's how it is in this hotel. I don't know why, but it seems that all the bad things that ever happened here, there's little pieces of those things still layin around like fingernail clippins or the boogers that somebody nasty just wiped under a chair. I don't know why it should just be here, there's bad goings-on in just about every hotel in the world, I guess, and I've worked in a lot of them and had no trouble. Only here. But Da

“Yes,” Da

When he released the boy he asked: “Your folks, they don't shine, do they?”

“No, I don't think so.”

“I tried them like I did you,” Hallora

Hallora

“I don't think he shines at all,” Hallora

“Okay.”

“Da

Da

“I know you do,” Hallora

“I will. Thanks, Mr. Hallora

The smiling thought came in his mind:

(Dick, to my friends) (Yes, Dick, okay)

Their eyes met, and Dick Hallora

Da

“What?”

“If there Is trouble… you give a call. A big loud holler like the one you gave a few minutes ago. I might hear you even way down in Florida. And if I do, I'll come on the run.”

“Okay,” Da

“You take care, big boy.”

“I will.”

Da

I don't think there's anything here that can hurt you.

I don't think.

But what if he was wrong? He had known that this was his last season at the Overlook ever since he had seen that thing in the bathtub of Room 217. It had been worse than any picture in any book, and from here the boy ru

I don't think-

His eyes drifted down to the topiary animals.

Abruptly he started the car and put it in gear and drove away, trying not to look back. And of course he did, and of course the porch was empty. They had gone back inside. It was as if the Overlook had swallowed them.

12. The Grand Tour

“What were you talking about, hon?” Wendy asked him as they went back inside.

“Oh, nothing much.”

“For nothing much it sure was a long talk.”

He shrugged and Wendy saw Da

The lobby was now empty except for Ullman and the head desk clerk (they were at the register, cashing up), a couple of maids who had changed to warm slacks and sweaters, standing by the front door and looking out with their luggage pooled around them, and Watson, the maintenance man. He caught her looking at him and gave her a wink… a decidedly lecherous one. She looked away hurriedly. Jack was over by the window just outside the restaurant, studying the view. He looked rapt and dreamy.

The cash register apparently checked out, because now Ullman ran it shut with an authoritative snap. He initialed the tape and put it in a small zipper case. Wendy silently applauded the head clerk, who looked greatly relieved. Ullman looked like the type of man who might take any shortage out of the head clerk's hide… without ever spilling a drop of blood. Wendy didn't much care for Ullman or his officious, ostentatiously bustling ma