Pet Sematary - Stephen King [75]
Why, Church is fine, honey, Louis said slowly.
Yes, hes fine. He lies around the house all day long and looks at me with those strange, muddy eyes-as if hed seen something that had blasted away most of whatever intelligence a cat has. Hes just great. 1 put him out with a broom at night because I dont like to touch him. I just kind of sweep at him with it and he goes. And the other day when 1 opened the door, Ellie, he had a mouse-or what was left of it. Hed strewed the guts hell to breakfast. And speaking of breakfast, I skipped mine that morning. Otherwise- Hes just fine.
Oh, Ellie said, and that furrow between her eyes smoothed out. Oh, thats good. When I had that dream, I was sure he was dead.
Were you? Louis asked, and smiled. Dreams are funny, arent they?
Dweems!" Cage hollered-he had reached the parrot stage that Louis remembered from Ellies development. Dweeeeeems! He gave Louiss hair a hearty tug.
Come on, gang, Louis said, and they started down to the baggage area.
They had gotten as far as the station wagon in the parking lot when Gage began saying Pretty, pretty, in a strange, hiccupping voice. This time he whoopsed all over Louis, who had put on a new pair of double-knit slacks for the plane-meeting occasion. Apparently Gage thought pretty was the code word for Ive got to throw up now, so sorry, stand clear.
It turned out to be a virus after all.
By the time they had driven the seventeen miles from the Bangor airport to their house in Ludlow, Gage had begun to show signs of fever and had fallen into an uncomfortable doze. Louis backed into the garage, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Church slink along one wall, tail up, strange eyes fixed on the car. It disappeared into the dying glow of the day, and a moment later Louis saw a disemboweled mouse lying beside a stack of four summer tires-he had had the snows put on while Rachel and the kids were gone. The mouses innards glowed pink and raw in the garages gloom.
Louis got out quickly and purposely bumped against the pile of tires, which were stacked up like black checkers. The top two fell over and covered the mouse. Ooops, he said.
Youre a spaz, Daddy, Ellie said, not unkindly.
Thats right, Louis said with a kind of hectic cheer. He felt a little like saying Pretty, pretty and blowing his groceries all over everything. Daddys a spaz. He could remember Church killing only a single rat before his queer resurrection; he sometimes cornered mice and played with them in that deadly cat way that ultimately ended in destruction, but he or Ellie or Rachel had always intervened before the end. And once cats were fixed, he knew, few of them would do more than give a mouse an interested stare, at least as long as they were well-fed.
Are you going to stand there dreaming or help me with this kid? Rachel asked. Come back from Planet Mongo, Dr. Creed. Earth people need you. She sounded tired and irritable.
Im sorry, babe, Louis said. He came around to get Gage, who was now as hot as the coals in a banked stove.
So only the three of them ate Louiss famous South Side Chili that night; Gage reclined on the living room sofa, feverish and apathetic, drinking a bottle filled with lukewarm chicken broth and watching a cartoon show on TV.
After dinner Ellie went to the garage door and called Church. Louis, who was doing the dishes while Rachel unpacked upstairs, hoped the cat wouldnt come, but he did-he came in walking in his new slow lurch, and he came almost at once, as if he-as if it- had been lurking out there. Lurking. The word came immediately to mind.
Church! Ellie cried. Hi, Church! She picked the cat up and hugged it. Louis watched out of the corner of his eye; his hands, which had been groping on the bottom of the sink for any leftover silverware, were still. He saw Ellies happy face change slowly to puzzlement. The cat lay quiet in her arms, its ears laid back, its eyes on hers.
After a long moment-it seemed very long to Louis-she