Needful Things - Stephen King [58]
"What do you mean "Nettle got my cake-box, and there was a note inside it. From Mr. Gaunt." She pushed her handbag across the table to him. "Take a look-I don't feel up to the clasp this afternoon."
He ignored the handbag for the moment. "How bad is it, Polly?"
"Bad," she said simply. "It's been worse, but I'm not going to lie to you; it's never been much worse. All this week, since the weather changed."
"Are you going to see Dr. Van Allen?"
She sighed. "Not yet. I'm due for a respite. Every time it gets bad like this, it lets up just when I feel like I'm going to go crazy any minute. At least, it always has. I suppose that one of these times the respite just won't come. If it's not better by Monday, I'll go see him. But all he can do is write prescriptions. I don't want to be a junkie if I can help it, Alan."
"But-" "Enough," she said softly. "Enough for now, okay?"
"Okay," he said, a little unwillingly.
"Look at the note. It's very sweet and sort of cute."
He undid the clasp of her handbag and saw a slim envelope lying on top of her billfold. He took it out. The paper had a rich, creamy feel. Written across the front, in a hand so perfectly oldfashioned it looked like something from an antique diary, was Ms.
Polly Chalmers.
"That style is called copperplate," she said, amused. "I think they stopped teaching it not long after the Age of the Dinosaurs."
He took a single sheet of deckle-edged stationery from the envelope. Printed across the top was NEEDFUL THINGS Castle Rock, Maine Leland Gaunt, Proprietor The handwriting here was not as formally fancy as that on the envelope, but both it and the language itself still had a pleasingly old-fashioned quality.
Dear Polly, Thank you once again for the devil's-food cake. It is my favorite, and it was delicious! I also want to thank you for your kindness and thoughtfulness-I suppose you knew how nervous I must be on my opening day, and in the off-season as well.
I have an item, not yet in stock but coming with a number of other things via air freight, which I believe might interest you a great deal. I don't want to say more; I'd rather you viewed it yourself.
It's actually not much more than a knickknack, but I thought of it almost the moment you left, and over the years I've rarely been wrong in my intuitions. I expect it to come in either Friday or Saturday.
If you have a chance, why not stop in Sunday afternoon? I'll be in all day, cataloguing stock, and would be delighted to show it to You. I don't want to say more just now; the item either will or will not explain itself. At least let me repay your kindness with a cup of tea!
I hope Nettle enjoys her new lampshade. She is a very dear lady, and it seemed to please her very much.
Yours sincerely,
Leland Gaunt "Mysterious!" Alan said, folding the note back into the envelope and putting the envelope back in her purse. "Are you going to check it out, as we say in the police biz?"
"With a build-up like that-and after seeing Nettle's lampshade-how could I refuse? Yes, I think I'll drop by if my hands feel better.
Want to come, Alan? Maybe he'll have something for you, toO."
"Maybe. But maybe I'll just stick with the Patriots. They're bound to win one eventually."
"You look tired, Alan. Dark circles under the eyes."
"It's been one of those days. It started with me just barely keeping the Head Selectman and one of my deputies from beating each other to a bloody pulp in the little boys' room."
She leaned forward, concerned. "What are you talking about?"
He told her about the dust-up between Keeton and Norris Ridgewick, finishing with how odd Keeton had seemed-his use of that word persecution had kept recurring to him at odd moments all day. When he finished, Polly was quiet for a long time.
"So?" he asked her finally. "What do you think?"
"I was thinking that it's still going to be a lot of years before you know everything about Castle Rock that you need to know.
That probably goes for me, too-I was away a long time, and I don't talk about where I was or what became of my 'little problem,