Read Online Christine by Steven King - Free Book Online

accentuate the garage’s essential emptiness. It gaped like a toothless mouth.
    That was almost as bad as LeBay. But when I looked back, the old bastard had gotten himself under control—well, mostly. He had stopped leaking at the eyes and he had stuffed the snotrag into the back pocket of his patented old man’s pants. But his face was still bleak. Very bleak.
    â€œWell, that’s that,” he said hoarsely. “I’m shut of her, sonny.”
    â€œMr. LeBay,” I said. “I only wish my friend could make the same statement. If you knew the trouble he was in over that rustbucket with his folks—”
    â€œGet out of here,” he said. “You sound like a goddam sheep. Just baa, baa, baa, that’s all I hear comin out’n your hole. I think your friend there knows more than you do. Go and see if he needs a hand.”
    I started down the lawn to my car. I didn’t want to hang around LeBay a moment longer.
    â€œNothin but baa, baa, baa!” he yelled shrewishly after me, making me think of that old song by the Youngbloods— I am a one-note man, I play it all I can. “You don’t know half as much as you think you do!”
    I got into my car and drove away. I glanced back once as I made the turn onto Martin Street and saw him standing there on his lawn, the sunlight gleaming on his bald head.
    As things turned out, he was right.
    I didn’t know half as much as I thought I did.

5
    How We Got to Darnell’s
    I drove down Martin to Walnut and turned right, toward Basin Drive. It didn’t take long to catch up with Arnie. He was pulled into the curb, and Christine’s trunk-lid was up. An automobile jack so old that it almost looked as if it might once have been used for changing wheels on Conestoga wagons was leaning against the crooked back bumper. The right rear tire was flat.
    I pulled in behind him and had no more than gotten out when a young woman waddled down toward us from her house, skirting a pretty good collection of plastic-fantastic that was planted on her lawn (two pink flamingos, four or five little stone ducks in a line behind a big stone mother duck, and a really good plastic wishing well with plastic flowers planted in the plastic bucket). She was in dire need of Weight Watchers.
    â€œYou can’t leave that junk here,” she said around a mouthful of chewing gum. “You can’t leave that junk parked in front of our house, I just hope you know that.”
    â€œMa’am,” Arnie said. “I had a flat tire, is all. I’ll get it out of here just as soon as—”
    â€œYou can’t leave it there and I hope you know that,” she said with a maddening kind of circularity. “My husband’ll be home pretty soon. He don’t want no junk car in front of the house.”
    â€œIt’s not junk,” Arnie said, and something in his tone made her back up a step.
    â€œYou don’t want to take that tone of voice to me, sonny,” this overweight be-bop queen said haughtily. “It don’t take much to get my husband mad.”
    â€œLook,” Arnie began in that same dangerous flat voice he had used when Michael and Regina began ganging up on him. I grabbed his shoulder hard. More hassle we didn’t need.
    â€œThanks, ma’am,” I said. “We’ll get it taken care of right away. We’re going to take care of it so quick you’ll think you hallucinated this car.”
    â€œYou better,” she said, and then hooked a thumb at my Duster. “And your car is parked in front of my driveway.”
    I backed my Duster up. She watched and then joggled back up to her house, where a little boy and a little girl were crammed into the doorway. They were pretty porky, too. Each of them was eating a nice nourishing Devil Dog.
    â€œWassa matta, Ma?” the little boy asked. “Wassa matta that man’s car, Ma? Wassa matta?”
    â€œShut up,”