Pet Sematary - Stephen King [19]
Rachel, he said, Church is going to die.
She stared at him angrily. That is hardly the point, she said, enunciating each word carefully, speaking as one might speak to a backward child. Church is not going to die today, or tomorrow-
I tried to tell her that-
Or the day after that, or probably for years-
Honey, we cant be sure of th-
Of course we can! she shouted. We take good care.of him, hes not going to die, no one is going to die around here, and so why do you want to go and get a little girl all upset about something she cant understand until shes much older?
Rachel, listen.
But Rachel had no intention of listening. She was blazing. Its bad enough to try and cope with a death-a pet or a friend or a relative-when it happens, without turning it into a a goddam tourist attraction a F-F-Forest Lawn for a-animals Tears were running down her cheeks.
Rachel, he said and tried to put his hands on her shoulders. She shrugged them off in a quick, hard gesture.
Never mind, she said. You dont have the slightest idea what Im talking about.
He sighed. I feel like I fell through a hidden trapdoor and into a giant Mixmaster, he said, hoping for a smile. He got none; only her eyes, locked on his, black and blazing. She was furious, he realized; not just angry, but absolutely furious. Rachel, he said suddenly, not fully sure what he was going to say until it was out, how did you sleep last night?
Oh boy, she said scornfully, turning away-but not before he had seen a wounded flicker in her eyes. Thats really intelligent. Really intelligent. You never change, Louis. When something isnt going right, blame Rachel, right? Rachels just having one of her weird emotional reactions.
Thats not fair.
No? She took the bowl of cake batter over to the far counter by the stove and set it down with another bang. She began to grease a cake tin, her lips pressed tightly together.
He said patiently, Theres nothing wrong with a child finding out something about death, Rachel. In fact, Id call it a necessary thing. Ellies reaction-her crying-that seemed perfectly natural to me. It-
Oh, it sounded natural, Rachel said, whirling on him again. It sounded very natural to hear her weeping her heart out over her cat which is perfectly fine-
Stop it, he said. Youre not making any sense.
I dont want to discuss it anymore.
Yes, but were going to, he said, angry himself now. You had your at-bats-how about giving me mine?
Shes not going up there anymore. And as far as Im concerned, the subject is closed.
Ellie has known where babies come from since last year, Louis said deliberately. We got her the Myers book and talked to her about it, do you remember that? We both agreed that children ought to know where they come from.
That has nothing to do with-
It does, though! he said roughly. When I was talking to her in my office, about Church, I got thinking about my mother and how she spun me that old cabbage-leaf story when I asked her where women got babies. Ive never forgotten that lie. I dont think children ever forget the lies their parents tell them.
Where babies come from has nothing to do with a goddam pet cemetery! Rachel cried at him, and what her eyes said to him was Talk about the parallels all night and all day, if you want to, Louis; talk until you turn blue, but I wont accept it.
Still, he tried.
She knows about babies; that place up in the woods just made her want to know something about the other end of things. Its perfectly natural. In fact, I think its the most natural thing in the w-
Will you stop saying that! she screamed suddenly-really screamed and Louis recoiled, startled. His elbow struck the.
open bag of flour on the counter. It tumbled off the edge and struck the floor, splitting open. Hour puffed up in a dry white cloud.
Oh luck, he said dismally.
In an upstairs room, Gage began to cry.
Thats nice, she said, also crying now. You woke the baby up too. Thanks for a nice, quiet, stressless