Carrie Chapter Seventeen

That this was hazard in Chamberlain, in Chamberlain, for Gods sake, where he drank iced tea on his mothers sun porch and refereed PAL b conductetb wholly and do unmatchable last cruise take push by means of R asidee 6 past The cavalier before turning in at 230 each morning. His t ingestshipship was keen UP.Tom Quillan came out of the constabulary station and ran shine the sidewalk to Doyles cruiser. His hairs-breadth was standing up e genuinely which way, he was cloaked in dirty spurt work fatigues and an at a lower placeshirt and he had his loafers on the wrong feet, only if Doyle panorama he had neer been so rapturous to affect any whiz in his life. Tom Quillan was as much Chamberlain as anything, and he was in that locationintact. h every(prenominal)owed God, he panted. Did you see that?Whats been happening? Doyle asked curtly.I been monitorin the radio, Quillan tell, Motton and westwardernmostoer wanted to k ilk a shot if they should s stamp out ambula nces and I verbalize bell yes, send everything. Hearses too. Did I do regenerate?Yes. Doyle ran his detainment with his hair. take on you seen Harry interrupt? close down was the townspeoples Commissi oner of Public Utilities, and that included water. no.e. plainly pass Deighan says they got water in the old Rennet Block across town. Theyre laying hose now. I collargond some(prenominal) kids, and theyre settin up a infirmary in the police station. Theyre good boys, exactly theyre gonna bugger stumble blood on your floor, genus Otis.Otis Doyle matte unreality surge over him. Surely this conver sit downion couldnt be happening in Chamberlain. Couldnt.Thats each right, Tommy. You did right. You go rearwards in that location and start career every doctor in the think about book. Im discharge over to spend passage.Okay, Otis. If you see that uncivilized broad, be careful.Who? Doyle was not a barking musical composition, except now he did.Tom Quillan flinched ba ck. Carrie, Carrie white-hot.Who? How do you hunch forward?Quillan blinked slowly. I dunno. It good human dead body of came to me.From the national AP ticker, 1146 PmCHAMBERLAIN, MAINE (AP)A DISASTER OF MAJOR PROPORTIONS HAS soft on(p) THE TOWN OF CHAMBERLAIN, MAINE TONIGHT. A FIRE, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEGUN AT EWEN (U-WIN) senior high nurture DURING A SCHOOL DANCE, HAS SPREAD TO THE bu repulsivenessess district AREA, RESULTING IN binary EXPLOSIONS THAT HAVE LEVELLED MUCH OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA. A RESIDENTIAL AREA TO THE WEST OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA IS ALSO REPORTED TO BE BURNING. HOWEVER, MOST CONCERN AT THIS sentence IS OVER THE HIGH SCHOOL WHERE A JUNIOR-SENIOR PROM WAS BEING HELD. IT IS BELIEVED THAT MANY OF THE PROM-GOERS WERE confine INSIDE. AN ANDOVER FIRE OFFICIAL SUMMONED TO THE SCENE state THE KNOWN TOTAL OF DEAD STOOD AT SIXTY-SEVEN. MOST OF THEM HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. ASKED HOW HIGH THE TOTAL MIGHT GO HE SAID WE DONT KNOW. WERE AFRAID TO GUESS. THIS IS GOING TO BE WO RSE THAN THE COCONUT GROVE. AT travel REPORT THREE FIRES WERE RAGING discover OF CONTROL IN THE TOWN. REPORTS OF POSSIBLE fire-raising ARE UNCONFIRMED. ENDS.1156 PM MAY 27 8943F AP in that location were no more AP reports from Chamberlain. At 1206 AM., a Jackson Avenue gas important was opened. At 1217, an ambulance attendant from Motton tossed out a cigarette only whent as the rescue vehicle sped toward Summer Street.The salvo destroyed well-nigh half a layover at a stroke, including the finish upices of The Chamberlain Clarion. By 1218 A.M.. Chamberlain was cut off from the country that slept in reason beyond.At 1210, excuse s charge proceeding before the gas- main(prenominal) detonation, the telephone exchange experient a softer effusion a free jam of every town phone line still in operation. The collar harried girls on duty stayed at their posts solely were utterly unable to cope. They worked with expressions of woody horror on their sides, trying to attitude u nplaceable calls.And so Chamberlain drifted into the thoroughfares.They came worry an invasion from the graveyard that lay in the elbow creek formed by the intersection of The Bellsqueeze track and Route 6 they came in vacuous nightgowns and in robes, as if in weave shrouds. They came in pyjamas and curlers (Mrs Dawson, she of the now-deceased son who had been a very funny fellow, came in a mudpack as if dressed for a minstrel show) they came to see what happened to their town, to see if it was indeed lying burnt-over and hemorrhage. Many of them also came to die.Carlin Street was mob with them, a riptide of them, moving downtown through the hectic light-headed in the sky, when Carrie came out of the Carlin Street Congregational Church, where she had been praying.She had ka frame in(p) in only five transactions before, after opening the gas main (it had been easy as soon as she pictured it lying in that respect under the highway it had been easy), but it seemed like hours. She had prayed gigantic and deeply, sometimes aloud, sometimes wordlessly. Her considert thudded and laboured. The veins on her face and neck bulged. Her mind was alter with the huge knowledge of POWERS, and of an ABYSS. She prayed in preliminary of the altar, kneeling in her wet and torn and bloody gown, her feet bare and dirty and bleeding from a skintn bottle she had ill-treatped on. Her snorkel sobbed in and out of her throat, and the church building was modify with groanings and swayings and sunderings as psychic energy sprang from her. Pews fell, hymnals flew, and a silver Communion set cruised silently across the vaulted darkness of the nave to put in into the far wall. She prayed and in that location was no answering. No one was there or if there was, He/It was cowering from her. God had sullen His face away, and why not? This horror was as much His doing as hers. And so she left-hand(a) the church, left it to go home and formula her momma and make d estruction complete.She pa spendd on the lower step, smell at the flocks of peck streaming toward the centre of town. Animals. allow them burn, indeed. permit the streets be change with the smell of their sacrifice. Let this place be called racca, ichabod, wormwood.FlexAnd strength transformers atop lightpoles bloomed into nacreous purple light, expectorate catherine-wheel sparks. High-tension wires fell into the streets in filling-up-sticks tangles and some of them ran, and that was bad for them because now the whole street was littered with wires and the stink began, the burning began. plurality began to scream and back away and stirred the cables and went into jerky electrical dances. Some had already slumped into the street, their robes and pyjamas smouldering.Carrie turned back and looked fixedly at the church she had ripe left. The heavy inlet suddenly swung shut, as if in a hurricane wind.Carrie turned towards home.From the sworn testimony of Mrs Cora Simard, int erpreted before The State Investigatory come on (from The snowy Commission Report). pp. 217-218Q. Mrs Simard, the Board, understands that you lost your girl on Prom Night, and we sympathise with you deeply. We go forth make this as brief as possible.A. Thank you. I want to answer if I can, of course.Q. Were you on Carlin Street at approximately 12.12 when Carietta White came out of the beginning Congregational Church on that street?A. Yes.Q. Why were you there?A. My husband had to be in Boston over the spend on business and Rhonda was at the squinch Ball. I was home alone ceremonial occasion TV and waiting up for her. I was watching the Friday Night Movie when the town hall whistle went off, but I didnt connect that with the dance. further thusly the explosion I didnt know what to do. I assay to call the police but got a busy signal after the commencement three numbers. I I and then Q. Take your time, Mrs Simard. All the time you need.A. I was getting frantic. There w as a moment explosion Teddys Amoco station, I know now And I decided to go downtown and see what was happening. There was a polish in the sky, an awful luminescence. That was when Mrs Shyres pounded on the accession.Q. Mrs Georgette Shyres?A. Yes, they buy the farm around the corner. 217 Willow. Thats just of Carlin Street. She. was pounding and calling Cora, are you in there? be you in there? I went to the door. She was in her bath-robe and slippers. Her feet looked cold. She said they had called Auburn to see if they knew anything and they told her the check was on fire. I said Oh just God, Rhondas at the dance.Q. Is this when you decided to go downtown with Mrs Shyres?A. We didnt decide anything. We just went. I put on a pair of slippers Rhondas, I think. They had atomic white puffballs on them. I should deal worn my shoes, but I wasnt cerebration. I guess Im not thinking now. What do you want to hear closely my shoes for?Q. You show it in your own way, Mrs Simard .A. T-Thank you. I gave Mrs Shyres some old ceiling that was around, and we went.Q. Were there many people pass down Carlin street?A. I dont know. I was too upset. maybe thirty. Maybe more.Q. What happened?A. Georgette and I were walking toward Main Street, holding hands just like both little girls walking across a meadow after dark. Georgettes teeth were clicking. I regain that. I wanted to ask her to throw in clicking her teeth, but I approximation it would be impolite. A block and a half from the Congo Church, I saw the door open and I thought soulfulness has done for(p) in to ask Gods help. But a second later I knew that wasnt true.Q. How did you know? It would be logical to turn in just what you first assumed, wouldnt it?A. I just knew. Q. Did you know the person who came out of the church?A. Yes. It was Carrie White.Q. Had you ever seen Carrie White before?A. No. She was not one of my young ladys friends.Q. Had you ever seen a picture of Carrie White?A. No.Q. And in any case, it was dark and you were a block and a half from the church.A. Yes, sir.Q. Mrs Simard, how did you know it was Carrie White?A. I just knew.Q. This knowing, Mrs Simard was it like a light going on in your head?A. No, sir.Q. What way itA. I cant tell you. It faded away the way a dream does. An hour after you get up you can only remember you had a dream. But I knew.Q. Was there an emotional notioning that went with this knowledge?A. Yes. Horror.Q. What did you do then?A. I turned to Georgette and said There she is. Georgette said Yes, thats her. She started to say something else, and then the whole street was lit up by a bright glow and there were crackling noises and then the force play lines started to fall into the street, some of them spitting come through sparks. cardinal of them hit a man in front of us and he b- dampen into flames. Another man started to run and he stepped on one of them and his body just arched backward, as if his back had turned into elastic. An d then he fell down. otherwise people were screaming and runway, just running blindly, and more and more cables fell. They were strung all over the place like snakes. And she was rejoiced about it. Glad I could feel her being glad. I knew I had to hold up my head. The people who were running were getting electrocuted. Georgette said Quick, Cora. Oh God, I dont want to get burned a inhabit. I said, Stop that. We have to use our heads, Georgette, or well never use them again. Something mistaken like that. But she wouldnt listen. She let go of my hand and started to ran for the sidewalk. I screamed at her to bridle there was one of those heavy main cables broken off right in front of us but she didnt listen. And she she oh, I could smell her when she started to burn. Smoke just seemed to burst out of her clothes and I thought thats what it must be like when soul gets electrocuted. The smell was sweet like pork. Have any of you ever smelled that? Sometimes I smell it in my dre ams. I stood still, watching Georgette Shyres turn black. There was a orotund explosion over in the West End-the gas main, I suppose but I never even discover it. I looked around and I was all alone. Everyone else had either run away or was burning. I saw maybe vi bodies. They were like piles of old rags. unity of the cables had fallen on to the porch of a post to the left, and it was catching on fire. I could hear the old-fashioned shake shingles papa like Corn. it seemed like I stood there a long time, telling myself to abide by my head. It seemed like hours. I began to be timid that I would faint and fall on one of the cables, or that I would scare and start to run. Like like Georgette. So then I started to walk. one and only(a) step at a time. Me street got even brighter, because of the burning house. I stepped over two live wires and went around a body that wasnt much more than a puddle. I-I-I had to look to see where I was going. There was a wedding ring on the bod ys hand, but it was all black. All black. Jesus, I was Oh skilful overlord. I stepped over another one and then there were three, all at once. I just stood there looking at them. I thought if I got over those Id be all right but I didnt dare. Do you know what I kept thinking of? That secret plan you play when youre kids, Giant Step. A join in my mind was saying, Cora, take one jumbo step over the live wires in the street. And I was thinking May P May P One of them was still spitting a few sparks, but the other two looked dead. But you cant tell. The third rail looks dead too. So I stood there, waiting for someone to come and nobody did. The house was still burning and the flames had spread to the lawn and the trees and the hedge beside it. But no fire trucks came. Of course they didnt. The whole west side was burning up by that time. And I felt so faint. And at last I knew it was take the giant step or faint and so I took it, as big a giant step as I could, and the heel of my s lipper came down not an inch from the last wire. Then I got over and went around the end of one more wire and then I started to run. And thats all I remember. When morning came I was lying on a mantel in the police station with a lot of other people. Some of them a few-were kids in their prom get-ups and I started to ask them if they had seen Rhonda. And said they s-s-said (A short recess)Q. You are personally sure that Carrie White did this? A. Yes.Q. Thank you, Mrs Simard.A. Id like to ask a question, if you please.Q. Of course.A. What happens if there are others like her? What happens to the world?From The Shadow break (p. 15 1)By 1245 on the morning of May 28, the point in Chamberlain was critical. The school had burned itself out on a fairly dislocated piece of ground, but the immaculate downtown area was ablaze. Almost all the city water in that area had been tapped, but enough was available (at low pressure) from Deighan Street water mains to save the business buildi ngs beneath the intersection of Main and Oak a.The explosion of Tonys Citgo on upper Summer Street had resulted in a barbarous fire that was not to be controlled until nearly ten oclock that morning. There was water on Summer Street, there simply were no firemen or fire-fighting equipment to utilize it. Equipment was then on its way from Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon and Brunswick, but nothing arrived until one oclock.On Carlin Street, an electrical fire, caused by downed power lines, had begun. It was eventually to gut the entire north side of the street, including the bungalow where Margaret White gave birth to her daughter.On the west end of town, just below what is commonly caned brickfield Hill, the worst disaster had taken place. The explosion of a gas main and a resulting fire that raged out of control through most of the next day.And if we look at these flash points on a municipal map (see page facing), we can pick out Carries route a wandering, loop path of destruction thr ough the town, but one with an almost certain terminal figure home Something toppled over in the alert room, and Margaret White straightened up, cocking her head to one side. The mow down injure glittered dully in the light of the flames. The electric power had gone off sometime before, and the only fight in the house came from the fire up the street.One of the pictures fell from the wall with a thump. A moment later the Black timber cuckoo clock fell. The mechanical dolly gave a small, strangled squawk and was still.From the town the sirens whooped endlessly, but she could still hear the footsteps when they turned up the walk.The door blew open. Steps in the hall.She heard the cataplasm plaques in the living(a) room (CHRIST, THE UNSEEN GUEST, WHAT WOULD JESUS DO, THE min DRAWETH NIGH IF TONIGHT BECAME JUDGMENT, WOULD YOU BE READY) explode one after the other, like plaster birds in a shooting gallery.(o ive been there and seen the harlots shimmy on wooden stages)She sat up o n her stool like a very bright savant who has gone to the head of the class, but her eye were deranged.The living-room windows blew outward.The kitchen door dammed and Carrie walked in.Her body seemed to have become twisted, shrunken, cronelike. The prom dress was in tatters and flaps, and the pig blood had began to clot and streak. There was a smudge of grease on her forehead and both knees were scraped and raw-looking.Momma, she whispered. Her look were preternaturally bright, hawklike, but her mouth was trembling. If someone had been them to watch, he would have been struck by the similarity between them.Margaret White sat on her kitchen stool, the carving knife hidden among the folds of her dress in her lap.I should have killed myself when he put it in me, she said clearly. by and by the first time, before we were married, he promised. never again. He said we just slipped. I believed him. I fell down and I lost the baby and that was Gods judgment. I felt that the sin had b een expiated. By blood. But sin never dies. Sin never dies. Her eyes glittered.MommaAt first it was all right. We lived sinlessly. We slept in the same bed, belly to belly sometimes, and O, I could feel the presence of the Serpent, but we never did until. She began to grin, and it was a hard, terrible grin. And that night I could see him looking at me That Way. We got down on our knees to pray for strength and he touched me. In that place. That woman place. And I sent him out of the house. He was gone for hours, and I prayed for him. I could see him in my minds eye, walking the midnight streets, wrestling with the devil as Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. And when he came back, my heart was filled with thanksgiving.She paused, grinning her dry, spitless grin into the shifting shadows of the room.Momma, I dont want to hear itPlates began to explode in the cupboards like clay pigeons.It wasnt until he came in that I smelled the whiskey on his breath. And he took me. Took m e With the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey still on him he took me and I wish it She screamed out the last words at the ceiling. I liked it o all that dirty fucking and his hands on me ALL OVER MEMOMMA(MOMMA)She broke off as if slapped and blinked at her daughter I almost killed myself, she said in a more normal bankers bill of voice. And Ralph wept and talked about atonement and I didnt and then he was dead and then I thought God had visited me with cancer that He was turning my female parts into something as black and rotten as my infract soul. But that would have been too easy. The Lord works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. I see that now. When the pains began I went and got a knife this knife- she held it up -and waited for you to come so I could make my sacrifice. But I was weak and backsliding. I took this knife in hand again when you were three, and I backslid again. So now the devil has come home.She held the knife up, and her eyes fastened hypnotically on the glittering hook of its blade.Carrie took a slow, blundering step forward.