Chapter 26 Twenty-six

Chad lit a cigarette with a match, then flicked the match into the ashtray and said, "Yes, Stanley Bouchard told me about that place." He paused to think. Louis didn't drink much beer, he went to the restaurant for a big meal that afternoon after playing ball with Steve.After eating he felt better about the kitten coming back, he thought there was some hope in it, but he wasn't in a rush to go back to his dark, empty house, where Churchy the kitten might be home, wherever he was Well, you have to face the facts.So he went to Chad's house. Norma sat with them for a while, watching TV knitting.She said it was for sale and there was a church shopping the week before Christmas which is usually a big event.Tonight her arthritis is almost invisible, her fingers are nimble, and the needles are moving quickly back and forth.Louis thought it might be because of the weather, although it was cold but dry, her heart condition had improved a lot, and she looked much younger, and Louis thought he saw Norma in her youth that night.

At a quarter to ten Norma said goodnight to them and went to bed.It was just Chad and Louis now, and Chad stopped talking, musing, watching the smoke keep rising like a kid looking at a red and white revolving sign in a barbershop wondering where the red and white stripes went like. Louis said softly, "Is that Stanis Bee?" Chad blinked, seemed to be back in the real world, and said, "Oh, yes, people in Ludlow Town called him Stanis Bee. That year, my dog ​​Spot died, and I was Said the first time he died in 1910, when Stanis was an old man, kind of crazy. There are some other people who know where the Meek Mike cemetery is, but I'm from Stanis Bee He heard it from there. He heard it from his father. They're all good French-Canadians."

Chad laughed, took a sip of his beer, and went on: "I can still hear his broken English. He found me crying sitting behind the livestock barn, which used to be at No. 15 On the road. Because Spotter didn't die by himself, he ran into a rusty barbed wire while chasing a rabbit, and my dad killed him after the wound became infected. My dad asked me to check out what to buy Chicken feed, we don't really need chicken feed. I know exactly why he let me go." "He's going to kill your dog?" "My dad knew how good I was to Spotter, so he sent me away when the dog was killed. I went to see the chicken feed, and then I came back and sat on the big rolling pan that used to be there and cried."

Chad shook his head slowly and slightly, but laughed and said, "Then old Stanis Bee came along. Half the town thought he was kind, and the other half thought he might be dangerous. His grandfather was a big fur dealer in the early 1800s and he traveled all over the area buying furs. He drove a big covered wagon with crosses all over it because he was a Christian through and through, but the shed There are also signs of Indian paganism on it, because he believes that all Indians belong to the lost nation of Israel mentioned in the Bible. He said that he thinks all Indians should go to hell, but they have magical powers, in They're also like Christians in some weird way."

"Stani's grandpa buys furs from the Meek Mikes and they do a good trade, most furriers quit or go out west, but Stani's grandpa does a lot with the Meek Mikes Because he trades fairly and at a reasonable price, and because he has a deep understanding of the Bible, the Mi'k'Mike people like to hear him tell the stories and teachings of the "Bible." Chad paused, and Louis waited patiently for him to continue. "Those Meek Mikes told Stane's grandpa about the graveyard they didn't use anymore because the Wendigo ghost ruined it, and told him all about the little god swamp and the stone steps."

"The Wendigo story goes all over the North Country, and that story, I think, is like something in our Bible. If Norma heard me say it, she'd call me blasphemous, but Louis Yes, it's true. Sometimes, when the winter is extraordinarily long, and life is hard, and food is scarce, some northern Indians starve to death, or else they have to think of something else." "eat human?" Chad shrugged and said, "Maybe. Maybe they pick an old dude to stew and eat it, and that'll last a while. But they have to make up a story to cover it up, so they make up Wendigo Ghost Came to their village and touched some people while they were sleeping, and people said Wendy would eat people if he touched them."

Louis nodded and said, "It is said that the devil made them eat people." "Yeah, I guess the Mi'kmack here did it at some tough time, they took the bones of the people they ate, maybe one or two, maybe ten or eight, and took The bones of these people are buried in that cemetery on the hill." Lewis said softly, "Then they decided the cemetery had gone bad, the land stinks." Chad went on to tell his story: "I was sitting behind the cattle barn crying and Stanis would have come in here for a jug of wine. He was old. When his grandpa died they said he had millions family fortune, but Stanis is just a local junk collector. He asked me what was wrong, and I told him everything. He saw me crying and told me there was a way to fix it, but I had to be brave OK. Of course I wanted to revive my dog, so I told him I'd give him whatever he wanted to keep Spot alive, and I asked him if he knew of a veterinarian who could revive Spot. He said:' No idea. But boy, I know how to revive your dog. You go home and tell your daddy to put the dog in a sack, but you're not going to bury him near home, not in the house! You're going to take him Bury him at the pet cemetery, first put him under that big dead wood pile. Then you come back and tell me.' I asked him what good it would be, and he told me not to sleep at night, he'd hit my window with a rock, Then I came out. 'Child, it's midnight, you have to forget what I said, if you fall asleep, then I won't care about you, your dog can't be saved!'"

Chad looked at Louis, lit another cigarette, and said, "I just did what Stane told me to do. I got home and my dad told me he put a bullet in the dog's head so the dog wouldn't be shot again. What the hell, I didn't even mention the pet cemetery when my dad asked me if Spot wouldn't let me bury him there. I said Spot would let me bury him in the pet cemetery. So I did Putting the dog in a sack and going to haul him to the pet cemetery. My dad asked me if I could help, because I remembered what Stani said, so I didn't ask my dad to help. I stayed up in bed that night, and the time seemed like It's slow. You know time always goes slow with children. I feel like it's almost morning, but the clock only strikes 10 or 11, and two or three times I almost fell asleep, but Every time I woke up again right away, it was like someone was shaking me and saying 'Jad, wake up, wake up'; as if something had to keep me awake."

Louis frowned at this, and Chad shrugged and went on: "When the clock downstairs struck twelve that night, I got up and got dressed and sat on the bed and waited. The moonlight streamed in through the window." The house. I waited and waited, and the clock struck half, then one, and Stanis hadn't come. I thought, that damned Frenchman, he'd forgotten me! I was going to bed undressed, Heard stones banging on the window and almost broke the glass. One stone did break a crack in the glass, but I didn't notice it until the next morning, and my mom didn't see it until the following winter , she thought it was frost. I ran to open the window, but there was a rattling noise behind the grill. You know what it's like for a child to have to open a window to go out in the middle of the night—"

Louis laughed. Although he couldn't remember if he felt like going out in the middle of the night when he was 10 years old, he believed that windows that never closed during the day would also make noise in the middle of the night for children. "I guess my parents thought a burglar had come in, but after I calmed down, I heard Dad still snoring in the downstairs bedroom. I looked out and saw Stanislav standing In my driveway, just looking up. He's swaying like he's got a strong wind blowing at him, but it's just a little breeze. I thought he wouldn't come, Louis, you think, for a drunk, sober One doesn't take what he says seriously. He seemed to be shouting at me—I guess he thought he was whispering—'Son, will you come down, or shall I come up and get you?'”

"Shh--I said to him. I was scared to death because I was afraid I'd wake Daddy. He didn't care how little I was, he'd whip me hard. 'What did you say? The original one was bigger. If my parents lived in a room on this side of the road, I would be scared away. But they live in the room where Norma and I live now, by the river side, so they may not hear .” "I bet you ran down the stairs in a hurry," Louis said. "You don't have another drink, Chad?" Louis had already had two more than usual, but seemed fine tonight.Drinking more tonight seems to be doing one's duty. "One more. You know where the beer is, go get it," said Chad, lighting a cigarette.He waited, smoking, until Louis sat down and said, "No. I wouldn't have the guts to go down the stairs, past my parents' bedroom door. I went down the arbor and slid to the ground as fast as I could. I'm telling you, I was terrified at the time. But more scared of my dad, although going up the hill with Stanislav to the pet cemetery was pretty scary." Chad said with a puff of smoke, "The two of us went up the mountain, Stanis staggered all the way, he must have drunk a lot of wine, smelled like he fell into a wine barrel. Once he almost let a branch Throat pierced, but he had a shovel and a pick. When we got to the pet cemetery, I figured he'd throw me a shovel and a pick to dig a hole for the dogs, and then he'd pass out himself. But He seemed to be waking up, and he told me we still had to go up, over that dead log pile, into the woods, and there was another cemetery. I looked at Stanis, he was so drunk that he could barely stand , looked again at the deadwood pile and said, 'Stanley, you can't climb that deadwood pile, you'll break your neck.' But Staney said, 'I won't break my neck, I won't, and you won't either .I can walk over it, and you can drag your dog and walk with me.' He was right, and he slid over the deadwood pile as effortlessly as silk, without even looking down. I dragged Watching Spot crawl over the dead wood, even though I was only about 90 pounds at the time, Spot must have felt like 35 pounds. But, Louis, let me tell you, the next day I was a little bit sore, How do you feel today?" Louis didn't answer, just nodded. Chad went on: "We walked and walked, and it seemed like we were walking. The woods were scary back then. There were a lot of birds singing in the woods, and you didn't know what the birds were. There were all kinds of animals in there. Most of them were probably Deer, but there's moose down in the woods too. Bears and leopards. I dragged Spotter. After a while I had the idea that old Stanley was gone, and I was following some Indian, somewhere ahead, and he He would turn around suddenly, with black eyes staring, his face painted with bear oil, his head wearing a headdress made of eagle gray-blue feathers, etc., and he would suddenly grab me by the back of my neck and give me a jerk. My hair was ripped off along with my scalp. I was thinking wildly, but Stanislaved forward with his head held high and his steps light, not staggering or stumbling at all. This image of him deepened my memory. Weird idea. But when we got to the little god swamp, he turned around to talk to me, and I saw it was Stanis. The reason he didn't stumble was because he was scared, and he was terrified himself. He told me What I told you yesterday about the Abbey Bird, the St. Elmer Fire, and how I should not pay attention to what I see and hear. He said, above all, don't talk to anyone You talk to something. And so we started walking into the swamp, and I did see something, and I'm not going to tell you what it was, but I've been there five times since the time I was 10, and Haven't seen that thing either. I won't see it again, Louis, because last night was the last time I went to Mi'k Mike's cemetery." I'm sitting here listening to Chad tell it all, but I'm not going to believe it, am I?Louis drank three glasses of wine, and began to have questions in his head again, asking and answering himself.I sat there listening to stories of Indian cemeteries and Wendigo ghosts and pets coming back from the dead, but I wouldn't believe it, would I?God, Church the cat just passed out, that's what happened, he was knocked out by a car, nothing miraculous happened.It's just the gibberish of an elderly man. But Louis also knew Chad wasn't there.Nonsense, although three extra glasses of wine would not have knocked Louis out of his wits, and thirty-three would not have knocked him out of his mind. It's one thing for Church to die; it's another for him to be alive.Something weird happened to him, something was wrong, that was the third thing.What happened?Chad had given back what he'd seen to Louis for saving his wife's life...but the potion from Meek Mike's Graveyard might not be a good one.Louis saw in Chad's eyes that the old man knew it.Louis remembered the weird look he had seen in the old man's eyes last night, the excited look in his eyes.Louis remembered the night he took Ellie's cat to the cemetery as if it hadn't been entirely Jud's decision. Louis asked himself: If it wasn't his decision, whose was it?Unable to answer himself, Louis pushed the unpleasant question aside. Chad continued flatly, "I buried Spot and made a mound for him, and by the time I finished all that, Stanis was asleep. I had to shake him hard enough, but we got the 44 steps—" Louis muttered in a low voice: "Level 45." Chad nodded and said, "Yes, yes, 45. By the time we got down those 45 steps, he was walking soberly again. We walked through swamps and woods, over dead wood piles, and finally across the road. Back home again. I feel like a dozen hours have passed, but it's still dark. 'What's going to happen now?' I asked Stanislav. 'Now you just wait and see what happens.' He Then he left, staggering again. I guess he slept in the back of the barn that night. As it turned out, my dog ​​Spot outlived Stanis by two years. Stane died on the road on July 4, 1912, due to liver damage and alcohol poisoning due to excessive drinking. When two children found him, his body was as rigid as a fire stick." "As for me, I crawled back to my room from the grape arbor that night, got into bed, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I didn't wake up until 9 o'clock in the morning when my mother called me. My dad works on the railroad, he probably leaves at 6." Chad paused for a moment and said, "Louis, my mom isn't calling me, she's screaming for me to come over." Chad went to the refrigerator, took a bottle of Miller's beer, and knocked the lid off the drawer pull.His face was sallow, the color of nicotine, in the light above his head.He drank half of the bottle in one breath, then hiccupped loudly, glanced in the direction of Norma's bedroom, looked back at Louis and said, "It's hard for me to tell this. Thought and thought about it in my head but never told anyone. Everyone else knew what was going on but they never told me either, I guess like people do with sex issues. I'm telling now For you, Louis, because you now have a different pet than before, not necessarily dangerous, but . . . different. Have you noticed that?" Louis thought of the way Church the cat jumped off the toilet bowl and bumped awkwardly onto the bathtub, and remembered the not-so-stupid blurry eyes staring straight at him, and he nodded. Chad continued: "I came downstairs and saw my mom retreating into the corner between the fridge and the pantry and there was a bunch of white stuff on the floor that she was going to hang the curtains on. And there was my dog ​​standing in the pantry aisle. Spotter. He's covered in dirt and his belly fur is filthy and curly. He's just standing there—not barking or doing anything—just standing there, obviously a dog Mom backed into a corner, whether it was intentional or not. Louis, my mom freaked out. I don't know how you feel about your parents, but I know how I feel about mine—I'm very Loved them both. Seeing what I did to scare my mom like that, I didn't have any joy at Spot being there. I wasn't even surprised." Louis said, "I know how you feel, when I saw Church this morning, it was just... like something—" He paused, thinking: Very natural feeling?Those are the words that come to mind, but say: "It seems to be arranged." Chad lit another cigarette and said with slightly trembling hands, "Yes. My mom saw me in my pajamas, but she screamed at me, 'Chad, go feed your dog, the dog wants Eat, get him out, don't let him stain the curtains!' So I found some leftovers and told him to go out and eat, and at first he didn't move, as if he didn't know his name. I even thought, Oh, it's not Spot at all, it's just a lost dog that looks like Spot, that's all—" Louis yelled, "Yes!" Chad nodded and went on, "But the second or third time I called him, he came over. He seemed to be jolting toward me, and when I led him out on the porch, he bumped against the door frame. Almost fell over. But he ate leftovers and gobbled it up. That's when my fear went away and I started to realize what was going on. I got down on my knees and hugged him and saw him again and I really So happy. Then it licked my face, but..." Chad drank his beer tremblingly and said, "Louis, his tongue is cold. He licked my face like he wiped his face with a dead carp." Neither of them spoke for a while, and then Louis asked, "And then?" "Later it continued to eat, and after eating, I took out the bath tub that I used to use for it to bathe it. Spot used to hate bathing the most. Usually, my father and I had to wash him, which always made us The shirt was pulled out and the trousers were wet. My dad always scolded him, and Spotter looked very shy - all dogs do. He used to roll all over the dirt and go to my mother's drying room place, shaking the dirt so that the sheets were covered with dust, and the sheets that mother had just washed and hung up, and mother would yell at us when she was a little older, she would shoot the dog as if it were a stranger Yes. But that time Spotter just stayed in the tub and let me bathe him, and he didn't move at all. I don't like the way he looks like... like he's washing meat. After I wash him, Dry it with an old towel. I can see where the wires scratched it - there's no hair on it, the flesh seems to go back in, like a five-year scar from a wound that healed." Louis nodded. When he was a doctor, he often saw the scars left after the wounds healed.The wound never seemed to grow back, and it reminded him of the grave and the undertaker's uncle's talk about how, after a grave was dug, there never seemed to be enough soil to put it back in. "Later, I saw that it had a dimple on its head, but the hair had grown in, forming a small white circle behind the ear." "Where your father shot it," Lewis said. Chad nodded. Lewis said: "Chad, shooting a person or an animal in the head with a gun is not as successful as it sounds. There are people who commit suicide without knowing that the bullet will break the skull but pass through the brain. I have seen it myself. In one case, a guy shot himself above the right ear and died instantly because the bullet went around the head and hit the jugular vein on the left side. The bullet's trajectory zigzags like a road map in a county .” Chad nodded with a smile and said, "I remember reading something like what you said in one of the papers Norma read, the Star or the Inquirer. But my dad said Spotter was dead. , Louis, then it is dead." Louis said, "Well, if you say that, it's what it is." "Did your daughter's cat die?" "I think he must be dead. "But you are a doctor, you should be able to know whether it is really dead or not." "You sound like 'Louis, you should know better, you're God.' But I'm not God. It's getting dark—" "Of course, it's dark, and the cat's head can be turned around like a bag of glass beads. When you pull it up from the frozen ground, it feels like you're peeling the tape off an envelope Paper. Living things don’t have this feeling. Only dead things lie on the frozen ground, which no longer melts the ice and snow, that is, they can be frozen on the ground.” From another room came the sound of a clock striking ten-thirty. Louis asked, "What did your father say when he came home and saw the dog?" "I was standing in the driveway throwing stones, waiting for him. I felt like I did something wrong and I knew I was going to get slapped. Dad walked in the gate around 8 o'clock that day, wearing loose overalls trousers, and a coarse linen hat... have you ever seen such a hat?" Louis nodded, then put the back of his hand to his mouth and almost yawned. Chad said, "Yeah, it's getting late, so I'll stop here." Louis said, "It's not that late, I just had a little more beer than usual. Chad, go on, take it easy, I want to hear it." "My dad had a big tin lunch box for lunch, and he was holding the handle of the lunch box as he walked in the door, shaking the empty lunch box, you know, and whistling. It was kind of dark, but he saw me said, "Hi, Chad." As usual, followed by: "Your—" He had just said this, and Spot came out of the shadows, instead of running up happily as usual, and jumped at Dad. Before, it was like this when it saw Dad, but this time it just wagged its tail and walked over. My dad dropped the lunch box and backed away. I don't know if Dad would turn around and run away if he hadn't leaned his back on the fence He stood there with his back against the fence and looked at Spot. When the dog actually jumped up, Daddy just held his paw like he's holding the hand of a lady who's going to dance with you. He looked at the dog Long time, then looked at me again and said, 'Jad, this dog needs a bath, he smells as dirty as where you buried him.' Then Dad walked into the house." Louis asked, "So what did you do?" "Another bath for the dog. He just lay in the tub and had another bath. Mom was in bed when I came in, but it was only 9 o'clock. My dad said to me, 'Chad, we need to talk. Talk.’ So I sat down across from him, and for the first time he talked to me like someone who smelled like flowers.” Chad sighed, “I’ve always hoped it would be nice if Dad could talk to me so nicely. How nice. But when he actually spoke to me kindly, it didn't feel good, not at all. All this tonight, Louis—it's like you stand between two mirrors and you can see I wonder how many times this story has been repeated? It’s always the same story, just different names and pets? It’s kind of like sex, isn’t it? " "Your father knows all about this." "Yes. He asked me, 'Chad, who took you there?' I told him and he nodded as if he had expected it. I thought maybe he knew who it was, but then I learned that There were six or eight people in Luther House who could take me there. I guess he knew only Stanis Bee would go crazy and actually take me there." "You didn't ask your dad why he didn't take you, Chad?" Chad said: "I asked, and I did ask that question when I was talking to him. Dad said it was a terrible place, and generally speaking, it wasn't always a place for the animals that were buried there or the people who buried them. Brings benefits. Dad asked me if Spotter was the same as before, Louis, you know, it's always hard to answer...but I gotta tell you how I feel about it, it's important because sooner or later you'll ask me , why lead you there with your daughter's kitten if it's a bad thing to do. Surely you have to ask, don't you?" Louis nodded, thinking: What will her daughter think of Church's behavior when she returns?He had been thinking about it that afternoon as he played tennis with Steve. Chad said with difficulty: "Maybe I do it because I think kids need to know that sometimes death is better. Your daughter doesn't understand that, and I have a feeling Ellie doesn't because your wife doesn't either." That. Now you go ahead and tell me if I'm wrong and we'll stop talking about it." Louis opened his mouth and closed it again. Chad resumed speaking, but slowly and carefully, as if they were walking through the little god's swamp last night, and said: "I've seen these things happen again and again over the years. I think I'll tell you Tells about Morgan burying his prize bull there, they call him Hallaty. That's a pretty name for a bull, isn't it? Looks like the bull died of internal ulcers. Morgan sleighs the bull all the way Pulled over to the Meek Mike cemetery, how he did it - how he got over that dead wood pile, I don't know. But it is said that where there is a will, there is a way. And at least as far as what happened in that cemetery, I dare It's all true. Oh, then the bull Hanratty came back, but Morgan shot him two weeks later. The bull got vicious, really vicious. But what I've heard Only one cow has gone bad. Most of the resurrected animals just look a little clumsy... a little dull... a little..." "A little lifeless?" Chad said, "Yeah, kind of dead. It's like they've been... somewhere... and come back...but not quite the same. Now, Louis, your daughter shouldn't know this, don't tell her she My kitten was brought back to life after it was hit by a car. So you can say that children should be taught to learn. Unless..." "Unless, sometimes, I can learn a lesson from myself," Louis seemed to be saying to himself rather than to Chad. Chad agreed, "Yeah, sometimes you can teach a child a lesson. Maybe she'll learn what death really is, the end of pain and the beginning of good memories. Not the end of life, but the end of life." It's the end of the pain. You don't have to tell her these things, she'll figure it out for herself later on. If she's anything like me, she'll keep loving her kitten, it won't be evil, or bite, or do anything something bad, and your daughter will continue to love it...but slowly she'll come to a conclusion...and then when the kitten dies, she'll sigh and relax." "That's why you took me there," Louis said.He feels better now, and he understands why.The story was somewhat lengthy, but in that situation he found the explanations acceptable, not with the logic of a sane brain, but with the logic of nervous nerves.It also meant he could forget about the horribly excited look on Chad's face he thought he had seen last night. "Okay, then—" Suddenly, Chad covered his face with his hands as if he had been shocked.For a moment Louis thought that Chad was in labor pain, and he half stood up in concern, noticing Chad's chest throbbing and realizing that the old man was trying to keep himself from crying out loud. Chad continued, choking back, "That's why, but also why. I did it for the same reason Stanislav and Morgan did it. Morgan took Linda and put her away after her dog was killed on the road." His dog was buried in the cemetery. His bull was revived and chased the children in the pasture like crazy. Morgan shot it to death, but Morgan took Linda to the cemetery anyway. He did that, and he took Linda anyway." Chad whispered almost in pain, "Louis, what the hell are you doing with this, God." Louis asked in horror, "Chad, what are you talking about?" "Morgan, Stanley did it for the same reasons I did it. People did it because the place had taken over them, because the cemetery was a secret place and people always wanted to tell the secret; when people found When it seems like a good reason, why..." Chad took his hands away from his face and looked at Louis with incredibly old and haggard eyes and said, "Why don't you just do it, people make up reasons ...looks like a good reason... to explain why you do it, but mostly people do it because they want to, or because they have to. My dad, he didn't take me there because he Just heard about it, never actually been there himself. Stanley was there, he took me there...and 70 years later...and then...suddenly..." Chad shook his head, coughed dryly into his hand, and said, "Listen, Louis, listen to me, Morgan's bull is the only animal I know that's gone vicious. I think Miss Rausch's The Chinese puppy may have bitten the postman once, and then, I heard something else...some of the animals got a little stinky...but Spotter was always a good dog, just always smelled like dirt. How many baths he takes, he always smells like dirt, but he's a good dog, and my mom never touches him again, but he's still a good dog. But Louis, if you take the cat with you tonight Go out and mess with it, and I won't say anything. That place... it's got hold of you all at once... people will make up the best excuses in the world... But Louis, I may be wrong, I That said, Morgan could be wrong, and Stanley could be wrong. Jesus, I'm not God, but bringing the dead back from the dead...is like playing God, isn't it?" Louis opened his mouth and closed it again, trying to say something that might sound wrong, wrong and cruel: "Chad, I didn't go through that and kill the cat." Chad drank the beer, carefully placed the bottle with the other empty bottles, and said, "I guess that's all, I've said it all." Louis asked, "Can I ask you one more question?" Chad said, "I guess so." Louis asked, "Has anyone ever buried anyone there?" Chad's arm jerked and two beer bottles were knocked off the table, one shattered on the floor. Chad said to Louis, "My God, no! Who would bury someone? Louis, you don't want to talk about that!" Louis said uncomfortably, "I'm just curious." Chad said: "It's not worth the reward to be curious about some things." For the first time, Louis felt that Chad looked old and frail, as if he was not far from his own freshly prepared grave. Later, when Louis returned home, he remembered that Chad didn't look right at that time. Chad looked like he was lying.