"Bye, Old Shep." "See you in heaven, yeah?" "This is where my kitty lays." "No more he screams and hollers." "He lived for 5 and 20 days." "He cost me $50." "Spot, a good fellow." "We love you." " Finally here." " Yeah." "So?" " What do you think?" " It's gorgeous!" "Decided to wake up and see what home looks like?" "Come here." "Mommy!" "Daddy!" "I see a path." "Ellie, be careful!" "Listen to..." "Mommy!" "Daddy!" "It hurts!" " Mommy, Daddy, it hurts!" " Are you OK?" " It hurts!" " Help me with this." "Are you OK?" "Hi, Church." "Church." "She's just skinned her knee." " I don't want the stingy stuff." " Where's Gage?" "Don't, my friend." "Not in that road." " I corralled him for you, missus." " Thank you so much." " Thank you." "I'm Louis Creed." " Jud Crandall." "I live just across the road." "Watch out for that road." "Them damn trucks go back and forth all day and night." " And who might you be, little miss?" " I'm Ellen Creed." "Your dad's the new doctor at the college, I hear." "I think you're gonna be as happy as a clam here." "Are clams really happy?" "Mr. Crandall, there's a path over there." "Do you know where it goes?" "Yeah, that's a good story, and a good walk." "I'll take you up there sometime, and tell you the story." " After you get settled in." " Great." "Excuse me, I've got to change him." "Nice meeting you." " Same here." " Come on, Ellie." "Give me a hand." "That house has stood empty too long." "It's damn good to see people in it again." "You scared the life out of me, Church." "Come here." "Is that you, Doc?" "Come on up and have a beer." " Need a glass?" " No." "Good for you." "Jesus..." "That's one mean road, all right." "That path your wife commented on..." "That road and those trucks are the two main reasons it's there." " Where does it lead?" " Pet cemetery." " Pet cemetery?" " It's that damn road." "It uses up a lot of animals." "Dogs and cats, mostly." "My little girl's got a cat, Winston Churchill." "We call him Church for short." "I'd get him fixed if I were you." "A fixed cat don't tend to wander." "If it's crossing back and forth, its luck will run out." "I'll take it under advisement." "Meantime, Doc, here's to your bones." "And your bones." " I'll be going now, Dr. Creed." " All right, Missy." " Hi, Missy." " I'll bring these back next time." "Great." "Can you come on Monday?" "Always thought it would be lucky to marry a doctor." "Wish I had a doctor around with my stomach pains." "Guess I'll never be lucky." "Hell, I ain't married to anyone." "Bye, Missy." "Mommy, Daddy, come on!" "Let's go!" "We're coming!" "All set?" "Let's get on with it." "This is the place." " What's it say, Mommy?" " It says "pet cemetery", honey." "It's misspelled, but that's what it says." "Ellie, wait a minute!" "I told you it's a bad road." "It's killed a lot of pets and made a lot of kids unhappy." "At least something good come of it." "This place." "Couldn't plant nothing but corpses here, anyway." "How can you call it a good thing?" "A graveyard for pets killed in the road." "Built by broken-hearted children." "They have to learn about death somehow." "Why?" "Can I have the baby?" "Daddy, look!" "This one's a goldfishy." "That's right, Ellie." "They wasn't all killed by the road." "Especially the ones from when I was a child." "They get older as you go towards the middle." "Harder to read." "Missy Ellen, come over here a minute." "That's where I buried my dog Spot when he died of old age in 1924." "Do you know what a graveyard really is?" "Well..." "I guess not." "It's a place where the dead speak." "No... not right out loud." "Their stones speak, or their markers." "This ain't a scary place, Ellie." "It's a place of rest and speaking." "Can you remember that?" "Yes, sir." " Hi, babe." " Daddy, what if Church dies?" "What if he dies and has to go to the pet cemetery?" "Honey, Church will be fine." "No, he won't." "Not in the end." "In the end, he's gonna croak, isn't he?" "He might still be alive when you're in high school." "That's a long time." "It doesn't seem long to me." "It seems short." "I'd let Church live to be a hundred." "But I don't make up the rules." "Who does?" "God, I suppose." "But he's not God's cat, he's my cat." "Let God get his own if he wants one." "Not mine." "Not mine!" "Gross!" "I'm scared." "What if school here isn't like in Chicago?" "I'm scared, and I want to go home." "You'll be all right, Ellie." "I don't want Church to get his nuts cut." "Good God, where did you hear that?" "Missy Dandridge." "She says it's an operation." "That road is a lot more dangerous than any operation." "Church will be just the same." "Well, almost the same." "And we won't have to worry about him getting hit by trucks." " Church will be all right." " Do you promise?" "Don't shilly-shally, Louis." "Give the little girl a promise." "Church will be fine." "I promise." " Thank you." " You're very welcome." "If anything happens while he's under the gas, it's unlikely, but if it does happen, you explain it to her." "Gotta go." " Going to get his..." " Nuts cut, yes." "Thanks for introducing that colorful phrase into my daughter's vocabulary." "Don't mention it." " How's that bellyache of yours?" " No better, no worse." " I can take a look at that for you." " It'll pass." "They always do." " Missy." " Ma'am." "Still friends, Doc?" "I kissed you!" "Have a great first day at school, Doc." "Bye-bye." " What happened?" " He got hit by a truck!" " Mind his head!" " Hold gently!" "Hey, Dr. Creed." " What's happened?" " He got hit by a truck." " Dr. Creed!" " Get them all out of here." " Easy!" " Everyone out, please!" "Come on, everybody clear out!" "Ambu bag." "Start a cardiac monitor." "I need large bores." "Get an ambulance, he's gotta go to EMC." " It won't do any good." " Let's do it by the rules." "Move!" "I told Rachel, "Not so much as a sprain today," my friend." "The soil... of a man's heart... is stonier..." "Louis." "How did you know my name?" "I'll... come to you." "How did you know my name?" "Come on, Doc." "We've got places to go." "Come on, Doc." "Don't make me tell you twice." "Why are you here?" "I want to help you, because..." "Louis!" "Because you tried to help me." " Let's go, Doc." " I don't like this dream." "Who said you were dreaming?" "This is the place where the dead speak." "I want to wake up." "That's all." "Don't go on, Doc." "No matter how much you may feel you have to, do not go on to the place where the dead walk." "Please..." "I just want to wake up." "That's all." "I just want to wake up." "That's all." "The barrier was not meant to be crossed." "It's not my fault that you died." "You were as good as dead when you came in." "The ground beyond... is sour." "You up, Doc?" "Getting there." "Thanks, Nurse." "Louis, it's not right." "I don't want you to be alone in the house on Thanksgiving Day." "It's a family holiday." "That's why you're going with the kids, and without me." "Your dad doesn't want me as a member of your family." "I want you around." "I'll be around plenty when you get back." "You may have some trouble here." "Jud." "What trouble?" "There's a dead cat on the edge of my lawn." "I think it might be your daughter's." "Yeah." "That's Church, all right." "I'm sorry." "At least it don't look like he suffered." "Ellie will suffer plenty." "Here, give me that." "What are you going to do with it?" "Put him in the garage." "I'll bury him in the morning." "Are you going to tell Ellie?" "I have to mull that over for a while." "Maybe I'll just tell her I haven't seen the damned cat around." "I don't want to spoil her holiday." "And Rachel's." "Maybe there's a better way." "Do we plant him outside the circle, or do we start a new one?" "The place we're going is on the other side of that." "We can't climb over that." "We'll break our necks." "No, we won't." "I've climbed it a time or two." "I know all the places to step." "Just follow me." "Move easy." "Don't look down." "And don't stop." "If you stop, you'll crash through for sure." "Just don't stop, and..." "And don't look down." "Right." " Are you all right?" " Yeah." "I guess I lost my happy thoughts there for a second." "Not much farther now." "What's that?" "Just a loon." " Here we go." " Won't be much longer now." "Just down here a little way." " Almost there." " You keep saying that." "This time I mean it." "What is this place?" "This was their burial ground." " Whose burial ground?" " Micmac Indians." "I brought you here to bury Ellen's cat." "Why, for God's sake?" " I said why, Jud?" " I had my reasons." "The soil's thin." "But you'll manage." "I'm gonna sit over yonder and have a smoke." "I'd help you but you gotta do it yourself." "Each buries his own." "When you talk to them..." "Not one word about what we done tonight." "What did we do tonight?" "What we did, Louis, was a secret thing." "Women are supposed to be the ones who are good at keeping secrets." "But any woman will tell you she's never seen into a man's heart." "The soil of a man's heart, Louis, is stonier." "Like the soil up there in the old Micmac burial ground." " Goldman residence." " Hi, Dory." "It's Louis." " Wanna talk to your daughter?" " Yeah, that'd be real fine." " Hi, Daddy!" " Hi, baby." "How's everything in Chicagoland?" "Grandma and Grandpa gave me lots of neat things." "How's Church?" "Does he miss me?" "Well, I guess he's just fine, Ellie." "I haven't seen him this evening." "Make sure you put him in the cellar so he won't run out in the road." "And kiss him good night for me." "Yuck!" "Kiss your own cat." " Want to talk to Gage?" " Yeah." "Hi, Daddy." "I love you." "Hi, Daddy." "I love you." "Jesus!" "Food, Church." "Food." "Come on, Church." "Chow down." "Come on, Church." "Christ..." "I don't believe this." "You stink, Church." "Hold on a second..." "God, he's chewed his way out." "Jesus, boy..." "Christ!" "Damn it!" "I tried to tell myself that I buried him alive." "I'm not a vet." " It was dark." " Sure it was dark." "But his head swiveled on his neck like it was full of ball bearings." "When you moved him, he pulled out of the frost." "Sounded like a piece of ticky tape coming off a letter." "Live things don't do that." "You only stop melting the frost under where you're laying when you're dead." "I feel like I'm going crazy." "It was the ragman that told me about the place." "He was half Micmac himself." "He knew how I felt about my dog Spot." "Spot had got caught in barbed wire." "Got infected." "When he died, I thought I was going to die." "The ragman did for me what I did for you last night." "Only I wasn't alone when Spot came back." "My mother was with me." "You could still see the barbed wire marks on him." "Jud, come and get your dog!" "He stinks of the ground you buried him in!" "Spot came back, all right." "He was never quite the same dog that I knew." "When he died in the night that second time," "I buried him in the pet cemetery, where, as you saw, his bones still lie." "A man doesn't always know why he does things." "I think I did it because Ellie ain't ready for her pet to die." "With more time she'll learn what death really is, which is where the pain stops and the good memories begin." "Has anyone ever buried a person up there?" "Christ on His throne, no!" "And who ever would?" "How the hell did you get in here?" "Out!" "Out!" "Bye-bye, Ellie." "Watch your step now." " Daddy!" " Hi, sugar." "Come here." "Hi, Daddy." "Daddy, is Church all right?" "Yes, I guess so." "He was asleep on the porch when I left." "I had a dream about him." "I dreamed he got hit by a car and you and Mr. Crandall buried him in the pet cemetery." " That was a silly dream, wasn't it?" " Is he really all right?" "Yes." " Hi, honey." " You want to take your son, Doc?" "You smell bad." "Can cats have shampoos?" "You have to take them to an animal groomer, and it's pretty expensive." "I don't care." "I'll save up my allowance and pay for it." "Church smells bad." "I'll cough up the money." " I hate that smell." " Yes." "I hate it, too." "And now, may the Lord bless you and keep you." "May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and comfort you, and lift you up, and give you peace." "Amen." " Rachel not feeling well?" " A touch of the flu." "She's in bed." "She's been throwing up ever since Missy Dandridge..." "That's enough, Ellie." "Poor Missy." "I don't know why God takes someone like her, who should still have many years in front of her, and lets an old fart like me go on and on." "My father used to have a saying." "God sees the truth... but waits." " How's your cat?" " It's Ellie's cat." "No." "It's your cat now." "...possibly more white-sided dolphins have beached or stranded themselves along the Maine coast." "Scientists don't know why." " What's up, sugar?" " Do you think Missy went to heaven?" "Do you wanna talk about it?" " Is Missy in heaven, do you think?" " I don't know." "Different people believe all sorts of different things." "Some believe in heaven or hell." "Some think we come back as children." "And some think we just wink out." "Like a candle flame in the wind." "Do you believe that?" "No." "I think we go on." " Yeah, I have faith in that." " You believe in it." "Give me a kiss." "I heard you and Ellie tonight." "I thought you might have." "I know you don't approve of the subject." "I just get scared." "And you know me..." "When I get scared, I get defensive." "Scared of what?" "Dying?" " My sister, Zelda..." " I know." "She died." "Spinal meningitis." "She was in the back bedroom, like a dirty secret." "My sister died in the back bedroom, and that's what she was, a dirty secret." "I had to feed her sometimes." "I hated it." "But I did it." "We wanted her to die." "We wished for her to be dead." "It wasn't so she wouldn't feel any more pain." "It was so we wouldn't feel any more pain." "Because she started to look like this monster." "Even now, I wake up and I think, "Is Zelda dead yet?"" ""Is she?"" "My parents were gone when she died." "Rachel!" "She started to..." "She started to convulse, and I thought," ""Oh, my God, she's choking." "Zelda's choking!"" "They'll come home and say I murdered her by choking." ""They'll say, 'You hated her, Rachel,"' and that was true." ""They'll say, 'You wanted her dead,"' and that was true, too." "And then she died." "I started to scream." "I ran out of the house, screaming, "Zelda's dead!" ""Zelda's dead!"" "The neighbors came out and they looked..." "They thought I was crying." "But you know something?" "I think maybe..." "I was laughing." "If you were, I salute you for it." "If I needed another reason to dislike your parents, I have one now." "You should never have been left alone with her." "Where was her nurse?" "They went out and left an eight-year-old kid in charge of her dying sister, who was probably insane by then." " Where are you going?" " To get you a Valium." " You know I don't take..." " Tonight you do." "Look!" " Daddy's flying the kite!" " Mommy, look!" " There it goes!" " That's it, Louis." " Go, Daddy!" " Higher!" "We want it higher!" " Louis, let Gage do it." " Here you go, buddy." " You're flying it." " There's the kite." "Gage is flying it." "You got it?" " Can I fly it now?" " Let Gage finish his turn." " We gotted it." " We got it." "You're flying it." "Go ahead." "Go ahead." "Run, boy." " Gage is flying it." " I'm flying it." "That kite's getting up there!" "It got away from him, that numb shit!" "I dropped it." " Daddy, can I fly it now?" " OK." "Just a minute." "I want to fly it." " Daddy, it's my turn now." " All right." "Just a minute." " Don't let him go out in the road!" " Get him, Louis." "Get the baby!" "Get the baby!" "Get the baby!" "No!" "The sedative finally took hold." "Rachel's asleep." "I wanna go back to my own room." "I can't sleep with Mommy." "She keeps stealing the covers." "Ellie, what you got there?" "What you got there?" "Let me see." "Can I see?" "Ain't that real nice?" "You pulling him in the wagon." "Bet he liked that." "I'm going to carry this picture until God lets Gage come back." " God doesn't do things like that." " He can if He wants to." "I have to keep his things waiting for him." "That's what I think." "I've got this picture, and I'm going to sit in his chair..." "Take care of your little girl." "She needs you." "I knew something would happen." "I told her when you got married," ""You'll have all the grief you can stand and more." Now, look at this." "I hope you rot in hell!" "Where were you when he was playing in the road?" "You stinking shit!" "You killer of children!" "Daddy!" "Stop it!" "Son of a bitch!" "You've no right!" "What's wrong with you?" "It's your son's funeral." "Get a hold of yourself, please!" "Good night, Ellie." "Good night, Daddy." "Daddy?" "God could take it back if He wanted to, couldn't He?" "If He really, really wanted to?" "Can I have faith in that?" "Yes, I suppose you can." "Good night, Ellie." "Fuck off, hairball!" "Jud, I buried my son today." "I'm very tired." "I wonder if we could just..." "You're thinking thoughts best not thought of, Louis." "I'm thinking about going to bed." "I'm responsible for more pain in your heart than you should have tonight." "For all I know, I may even be responsible for your son's death." "What?" "Jud, you're talking crazy." "You're thinking of putting him up there." "Don't deny the thought hadn't crossed your mind." "You asked me... if anyone had ever buried a person up there in the Micmac grounds." "I lied when I said no." "It's been done." "What you've been thinking of has been done." "He was a local boy." "It was towards the end of the Second World War." "His name was Timmy Baterman." "He was killed on his way home from the Second World War." "His father Bill Baterman was so grief-struck he buried his son up there before he had a chance to get to the bottom of the truth." "I'll bite, Jud." "What's the bottom of the truth?" "That, sometimes, death is better." "The person you put up there ain't the person that comes back." "It may look like that person, but it ain't that person." "Because whatever lives in the ground beyond the pet cemetery... ain't human at all." "It was four or five days after Timmy's funeral that Margie Washburn seen Timmy walking up the road towards Yorkie's livery." "As time went by lots of folks saw Timmy walking back and forth." "But it was Margie who came to us men folks and said it had to be stopped!" "She knew it was an abomination." "So us men sat down and talked it out." "We went over to the Baterman place to take care of it." "One way or the other." "He's gotta burn!" "You're wrecking the house!" "Stop it!" "Timmy, stop it!" " The place is going up." " Go away!" "Get out while you still can, Bill!" " Bring out the cans!" " Wait a minute, fellas." "He's a monster, Bill!" "Leave us alone!" "He's my son!" " Come, Timmy, let's get out!" " Love death." "Hate living." "Come on, son!" "Love death!" "Hate living!" "Louis, sometimes dead is better." "The Indians knew that." "They stopped using that burial ground and the ground went sour." "Don't think about doing it." "The place gets hold of you." "The place is evil." "Sometimes, dead is better." "You see, Louis, what I'm getting at?" "You understand?" "You're telling me that place knew Gage was going to die?" "I'm saying... that place might have made Gage die cos I introduced you to the power." "I may have murdered your son, Louis!" "This could be the beginning of patching things up with your folks." "If something good doesn't come from Gage's death, I think..." " I don't want to go to Chicago." " Why not, darling?" " I had a bad dream last night." " About what?" "About Daddy... and Gage... and someone named Paxcow." "You guys better get going, you're gonna miss the boat." "I am sorry." "What can I say?" "I lost my mind." "We all lost our minds." " You take care of your mother." " Come with us, please!" "I'll be there in three or four days." "Please, Daddy." "I'm scared." " Everything's gonna be all right." " Do you swear?" "I swear." "Come on, Ellie." "Let's go." "It's wrong." "What happened to you is wrong." "Remember, Doc..." "The barrier... was not meant to be crossed." "The ground is sour!" "If it doesn't work..." "If he comes back... and he's like Jud said Timmy Baterman was..." "I'll just put him back to sleep." "And they don't have to know." "Rachel and Ellie don't ever have to know." "Mommy." "Mommy!" "Honey, you just had a bad dream." "That's all." "It wasn't a dream." "It was Paxcow!" "Paxcow says Daddy's going to do something really bad." "Who is this Paxcow?" "Is he like the bogeyman?" "He's a ghost." "He's a good ghost." "He says he was sent to warn us." "He says he was near Daddy, because they were together when his soul was... dis... dis..." "I can't remember!" "Listen." "There are no ghosts." "There are no ghosts." "Go to sleep and forget all this nonsense." "Do you hear me?" "Will you at least call and make sure Daddy's OK?" "Of course I will." " Paxcow?" "Why do I know that name?" " Pascow." "Was she saying Pascow?" "He was trying to help me because Daddy was helping him when his soul dis... dis..." "Discorporated." "I'm gonna bust you out, son." "He's not home." "He probably went out for a hamburger or a chicken dinner." "You know how men are when they're alone." "Jud, it's Rachel Creed." "I'm calling from Chicago." "Chicago?" "Is Louis with you?" "No." "We're going to be here a while and he needed a few days to close things up." " I just wondered if he was with you." " No." "But if he drops by, I'll tell him to call you." " Don't bother." "I'm coming home." " Rachel, no!" " Don't do that." " I have to." "Goodbye." "You've done it, you stupid old man." "Now you've got to undo it." "It's going to be all right." "I swear it's going to be all right." "I'm coming for you, Rachel." "And this time..." "I'll get you." "Gage and I... will get you." "For letting us die!" "Good evening again." "We've had a strong tailwind, and we expect to arrive at Boston's Logan Airport almost on time." "Thank God." "Sorry." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." "Don't do that." " Make it wait!" " I can't!" "All right, I'll call the pilot." "I'm not gonna stop, Gage." "I'm not gonna look down." "I'm sorry." "It's been very busy." "I don't have anything." "What about the Aries K?" "The one with the scratch." "I do have an Aries K." "It's rather beat up, there's a long scrape up one side." "I'll take it." "OK." "Major credit card and a license." "See?" "It's just imagination." " Now what?" " It's trying to stop you." "Do you hear me?" "It's trying to stop you!" "Is anyone there?" "Come back to me, Gage." "Come back to us." "Stop!" " Hop in, babe." " Thank you." "Oh, my..." "Who's here?" "Let's play hide-and-go-seek." "Are you the one playing games?" "Come on out!" "I brought you something." "Where did you?" "Thank you so much." "Think nothing of it." "I didn't get a ticket, so you're welcome." "Whatever your problems are, I hope they work out." "End of the line for me." "I'm not allowed any further." "I'm sure things will be fine." "I'm not." "Rachel!" "Are you up there?" "Rachel?" "Is that you?" "I finally came back for you, Rachel." "I'm going to twist your back like mine, so you'll never get out of bed again!" "Never get out of bed again!" "Never get out of bed again!" "Never get out of bed again!" "I brought you something, Mommy." "I brought you something, Mommy." "I brought you something, Mommy." "Oh, my God." " Hello." " Hello, Louis." "It's Irwin." "I just wanted to be sure Rachel got back all right." " Are you there?" " Yes, I'm here." " Did she get back all right?" " Yes." "She's fine." "Put her on at that end, and I'll put Ellie on this one." "Ellie's very worried about her mother." "She's almost in hysterics." " Rachel's asleep." " I suggest you wake her up." "Ellie had a dream that her mother was dead." "Irwin, I can't talk to you right now." "Irwin, I can't talk to you now!" "I'm at Jud's, Daddy." "Will you come over and play with me?" "First I played with Jud." "Then Mommy came and I played with Mommy." "Will you play, Daddy?" "We had an awful good time." "Now I want to play with you." "What did you do?" "What did you do?" "Hi, Church." "Want some grub, Church?" "Don't mind me." "Eat it while you can." "That's right." "Today is Thanksgiving Day for cats." "But only... if they came back from the dead." "Go on!" "Lie down." "Play dead!" "Be dead!" "Gage, what have you done?" "Scared you, didn't I?" "Hi, Daddy." "Now I want to play with you." "All right, Gage." "Let's play." "Daddy." "Come here." "Come here." "No fair." "No fair." "No fair." "I'm so sorry, Louis." "I'm so sorry." "But don't make it worse." "Don't!" "I waited too long with Gage." "With Rachel..." "It will work this time!" "Because she just died." "She just died a little while ago." "Don't!" "Please, Louis!" "No!" "It will be all right, Rachel." "I promise." "The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis." "A man grows what he can, then he tends it." "Cos what you buy is what you own." "And what you own... always comes home to you." "Darling."