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“We were discussing you,” Wendy said quietly. “And maybe we didn't say it all in words, but we both knew. Me because I'm your wife and Da
Jack was silent.
“Da
“In my sleep?” Jack asked. His face wore a cautious, startled expression. “I talk in my sleep?”
“Most of it is slurry. Once I got up to use the bathroom and you were saying, 'To hell with it, bring in the slots at least, no one will know, no one will ever know. ' Another time you woke me right up, practically yelling, `Unmask, unmask, unmask. "'
“Jesus Christ,” he said, and rubbed a hand over his face. He looked ill.
“All your old drinking habits, too. Chewing Excedrin. Wiping your mouth all the time. Cranky in the morning. And you haven't been able to finish the play yet, have you?”
“No. Not yet, but it's only a matter of time. I've been thinking about something else… a new project-”
“This hotel. The project Al Shockley called you about. The one he wanted you to drop.”
“How do you know about that?” Jack barked. “Were you listening in? You-”
“No,” she said. “I couldn't have listened in if I'd wanted to, and you'd know that if you were thinking straight. Da
“Then how could you know what Al told me?”
“Da
“The doctor said-”
She shook her head impatiently. “The doctor was full of shit and we both know it. We've known it all the time. Remember when Da
“Did you really know Uncle Al had called me, Da
Da
“Jesus,” Jack said again. “The bruises, Da
Da
Jack and Wendy exchanged a scared look over his bowed head.
“Do you know anything about this?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “Not about this, no.”
“Da
“I knew it was bad here,” Da
“What dreams?”
“I can't remember everything. He showed me the Overlook at night, with a skull and crossbones on the front. And there was pounding. Something… I don't remember what… chasing after me. A monster. Tony showed me about redrum.”
“What's that, doc?” Wendy asked.
He shook his head. “I don't know.”
“Rum, like yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum?” Jack asked.
Da
“Shine?”
“It's…” Da
“Holy God,” Jack whispered. “You're not making this up, are you, Dan?”
Da
His parents looked at each other again, frankly stu
“Mr. Hallora
“What was it?” Jack asked.
“In the Presidential Sweet. On the wall by the door going into the bedroom. A whole lot of blood and some other stuff. Gushy stuff. I think… that the gushy stuff must have been brains.”
“Oh my God,” Jack said.
Wendy was now very pale, her lips nearly gray.
“This place,” Jack said. “Some pretty bad types owned it awhile back. Organization people from Las Vegas.”
“Crooks?” Da
“Yeah, crooks.” He looked at Wendy. “In 1966 a big-time hood named Vito Gienelli got killed up there, along with his two bodyguards. There was a picture in the newspaper. Da
“Mr. Hallora
“What about the playground?” Jack asked in a strange, casual voice.
“I don't know. The playground, he said. And the hedge animals.”
Jack jumped a little, and Wendy looked at him curiously.
“Have you seen anything down there, Jack?”
“No,” he said. “Nothing.”
Da
“Nothing,” he said again, more calmly. And that was true. He had been the victim of an hallucination. And that was all.
“Da
So Da
“I went in,” he said. “I stole the passkey and went in. It was like I couldn't help myself. I had to know. And she… the lady… was in the tub. She was dead. All swelled up. She was nuh-nuh… didn't have no clothes on.” He looked miserably at his mother. “And she started to get up and she wanted me. I know she did because I could feel it. She wasn't even thinking, not the way you and Daddy think. It was black… it was hurt-think… like… like the wasps that night in my room! Only wanting to hurt. Like the wasps.”
He swallowed and there was silence for a moment, all quiet while the image of the wasps sank into them.
“So I ran,” Da
His voice began to rise hysterically.
“She grabbed me… turned me around… I could see her eyes… how her eyes were… and she started to choke me… I could smell her… I could smell how dead she was… s”