ix months after a crane crushes his pickup truck and his body, self-made millionaire Edgar Freemantle launches into a new lifeHis wife asked for a divorce after he stabbed her with a plastic knife and tried to strangle her one-handed (he lost his arm and for a time his rational brain in the accident)He divides his wealth into four equal parts for his wife, his two daughters and himself and leaves Minnesota for Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily remote stretch of the Florida coast where he has rented a houseAll of the land on Duma Key, and the few houses, are owned by Elizabeth Eastlake, an octogenarian whose tragic and mysterious past unfolds perilously When Edgar begins to paint, his formidable talent seems to come from someplace outside him, and the paintings, many of them, have a power cheap chanel handbag that cannot be controlled Soon the ghosts of Elizabeth's childhood return, and the damage of which they are capable is truly terrifying Like Lisey's Story, this is a novel about the tenacity of love and the perils of creativityIts supernatural elements will have King fans reeling 3 DUMA KEY By Stephen King Copyright (c) 2008 by Stephen King For Barbara Ann and Jimmy Memory - GEORGE SANTAYANA Life is more than love and pleasure, I came here to dig for treasure If you want to play you gotta pay You know it's always been that way, We all came to dig for treasure - SHARK PUPPY 4 How to Draw a Picture (I) Start with a blank surfaceIt doesn't have to be paper or canvas, but I feel it should be whiteWe call it white because we need a word, but its true name is nothingBlack is the absence of light, but chloe bag white leather padlock white is the absence of memory, the color of can't remember How do we remember to remember? That's a question I've asked myself often since my time on Duma Key, often in the small hours of the morning, looking up into the absence of light, remembering absent friendsSometimes in those little hours I think about the horizonYou have to establish the horizonYou have to mark the whiteA simple enough act, you might say, but any act that remakes the world is heroicOr so I've come to believe Imagine a little girl, hardly more than a baby She fell from a carriage almost ninety years ago, struck her head on a stone, and forgot everything Not just her name; everything! And then one day she recalled just enough to pick up a pencil and make that first hesitant mark across the whiteA 5 horizon-line, sureBut replica gucci canvas bag also a slot for blackness to pour through Still, imagine that small hand lifting the penciland then marking the white Imagine the courage of that first effort to reestablish the world by picturing itI will always love that little girl, in spite of all she has cost me Pictures are magic, as you know 1 - My Other Life i My name is Edgar FreemantleI used to be a big deal in the building and contracting business This was in Minnesota, in my other lifeI learned that my-other-life thing from WiremanI want to tell you about Wireman, but first let's get through the Minnesota part Gotta say it: I was a genuine American-boy success thereWorked my way up in the company where I started, and when I couldn't work my way any higher there, I went out and started my ownThe boss of the company I left laughed at me, omega planet ocean watches said I'd 6 be broke in a yearI think that's what most bosses say when some hot young pocket-rocket goes off on his own For me, everything worked out Paul boomed, The Freemantle Company boomedWhen things tightened up, I never tried to play big But I did play my hunches, and most played out wellBy the time I was fifty, Pam and I were worth forty million dollarsAnd we were still tightWe had two girls, and at the end of our particular Golden Age, Ilse was at Brown and Melinda was teaching in France, as part of a foreign exchange programAt the time things went wrong, my wife and I were planning to go and visit her I had an accident at a job siteIt was pretty simple; when a pickup truck, even a Dodge Ram with all the bells and whistles, argues with a twelvestory crane, the pickup is going to lose louis vuitton miroir handbags every tim

"Are you Edmund?" she asked timidly "Miss Eastlake, don't tax yourself," Wireman said gently"This is-" "Hush, Wireman," I said "You paint," she said "Have you painted the ship yet?" A curious thing happened to my stomachIt didn't sink so much as it seemed to disappear and leave a void between my heart and the rest of my gutsMy knees tried to buckleThe steel in my hip went hotThe back of my neck went coldAnd warm, prickling fire ran up the arm that wasn't there"Again and again and again "You're Edgar," she saidI guessed no one had called her honey in a long time"My mind is like a tablecloth with a great big hole burned into it She turned to Wireman"Muy divertido, s??" "You need to rest," he said"In fact, you need to dormir como un troncoAnd I think when I wake up, I'll still be here She lifted his hands to her face and kissed them "I love you, too, Miss Eastlake," he saidIs d

He knew that none of them liked him, and he hardly cared, but now they hated him and he could feel it as almost a leaden oppression in the air And they had to get upIf they failed, then the thing he had done with Hearn was wrong, and he had been bucking the Army, simply disobeying an orderHe would have to carry the platoon virtually on his back and it was going to be very difficultHe spat, and slit the end off a cardboard K rationAs with everything else, he did this neatly, expertly Late into the afternoon Ridges and Goldstein struggled along with WilsonThey moved at a torturously slow pace, toting him forward for ten yards or at most fifteen before they set him downAn ant traveling in a straight line would have gone literally as fastThey did not think of quitting or continuing, they hardly ever listened to Wilson's ramblings, there was nothing in all the heat and effort but the dumb imperative to carry him onThey did not talk, they were exhausted beyond speech, they only shambled forward like blind men crossing a strange and terrifying streetTheir fatigue had cut through so many levels, had blunted finally so many of their senses that they were reduced to the lowest common denominator of their existenceCarrying him was the only reality they knew And so for hours cartier santos demoiselle they labored forward, ready to collapse at any moment, but somehow never quite falling unconsciousToward the end they had only a dumb wonder that they could abuse their bodies so mightily and have them still function Wilson fell into a fever and drifted along in a heavy swell of fogThe jolting of the litter became dull and leaden, almost pleasantThe few words he heard, the hoarse panting communications between Ridges and Goldstein, the sound of his own voice, indeed all sensations entered his head quite separately like doors opening into individual closetsHis senses were exceptionally vivid, he felt every spasm of their muscles in the tremors of the litter, and obversely the pains of his wound seemed remote, something that came to him outside the envelope of his bodyBut one thing had deserted himHe was completely passive, blissfully tired, and it took him minutes to decide to ask for anything, or to bring his hand up to his forehead to chase an insectAnd when he did, his fingers remained motionless on his face for almost as long before he dropped his arm again He rambled on about anything that came into his mind, talking for minutes at a time, his voice rasping weakly or rising to a shout without any controlAnd the men carrying him listened without understanding the ladies rolex for sale meaning of his words or even caring "They was woman in Kansas when Ah was out at Riley, she used to take me up and live wi' me jus' as if Ah was her husbandAh never even stayed in the goddam barracks, Ah jus' use' to tell 'em mah wife was in townThat woman use' to cook for me and mend mah uniforms and starch 'em nice as you please, they wa'n't a damn thing she wouldn' do for me"Ah gotta picture of her Ah'd like to show ya if you jus' wait a minute His hand would fumble at his pocket, then forget about it"Figgered Ah wasn't married and Ah never set her right, Ah figgered Ah might even shack up with her after the waw, and what was the goddam sense of jus' losin' a good woman, Ah never could see the point to thatAh jus' tole her Ah was a collidge gradjit, and she believe' meGoddam women'll believe any damn thing if en you just keep layin' 'em regular He sighed, coughed feebly, a little blood inching once more out of his mouthIt stirred a few ripples of fear in him, and he shook his headHe was weary and yet he couldn't give up"They get me back damn doctors'll fix me up good as newThe bullet had whanged into his flesh with incredible force and he had bled at intervals for a day and a half, had been shocked and jolted on the litter, had undergone the torments of his replica gucci canvas bag woundBut it never occurred to him to quitThere were so many things he wanted to do "Ah tell you men Ah ain't sayin' screwin' a nigger is right thing to do, but Ah git a little tempted ever' now and thenThey was a nigger gal use' to pass mah pappy's house almost ev' day, an' Ah can still see way her ass wiggle He roused himself almost on his elbow, looked at Ridges evenly for a moment "Eveh screw any nigger stuff?" he asked him Ridges stopped, set the stretcher downFor once he had heard Wilson"You can shut up that kine of talk," he told himHis breath came in heavy sobs and he stared at Wilson vacantly as if he could not focus his eyes"Nuff of that," he blurted outEven in his exhaustion he was profoundly shocked"Ought know better talk like that," he panted "Ridges, you're jus' chickenshit," Wilson said Ridges shook his head like a bullAll his life there had been any number of things he could not doMaking love to a Negro was a luxury as well as a sin to him; it was one of the excessive things you could not do and survive But Wilson was far away alreadyThe warmth in his body, the pleasantly heavy lassitude of his limbs tricked himHe thought it was sexual anticipation, and a thick foundationless lust rose in his throatHe closed his eyes, recalling a moonlit night and the omega seamaster de ville creekbank of the river outside his townHe chuckled weakly, some phlegm burbling into his throatHe swallowed it againHe felt his cheeks puckering, and he lapsed into a gentle weeping which issued easily out of himHe noticed it with surprise Suddenly he was aware of his mouth again, felt his tongue lolling in his throat"Gimme some water, huh, men?" There was no answer and he said again patiently"Jus' a little drink, huh, men?" They would not answer him, and he was angry"Goddammit, men, gimme a little water "Hold off," Ridges said hoarsely "Men, Ah do anythin' for ya, y' gimme a little water Ridges set him downWilson's cries rasped against his sensesIt was the only thing that could arouse him by now "You men are just sonsofbitches "You cain't have it," Ridges saidHe could see no harm in it, which made it harder for him to refuse, but he was also bitter at WilsonWe done without, neveh made any fuss, he told himself"Wilson, you cain't have it His voice was final and Wilson lapsed into reverie again They picked up the stretcher and tugged forward a few yards, laid it down againThe sun was drifting toward the western horizon and it grew cooler, but they paid little attentionWilson was a burden they had to carry; it would go on and on and they could never let him omega mens watch fake g

He flipped me the bird, and just like that we were mostly okay again "You sent Pam the pictures, didn't you? You sent her the JPEG file "How did she react?" "She was blown away, muchacho I sat silently, trying to imagine Pam blown away I could do it, but the face I saw lighting up in surprise and wonder was a younger faceIt had been quite a few years since I'd been able to generate that sort of wind Elizabeth was dozing off, but her hair was flying against her cheeks and she pawed at them like a woman troubled by insectsI got up, took an elastic from the pouch on the arm of her wheelchair - there was always a good supply of 557 them, in many bright colors - and pulled her hair back into a horsetailThe memories of doing this for Melinda and Ilse were sweet and terrible "So how do I do it?" I askedI was holding my palm on the side of Elizabeth's head, feeling the smoothness of her hair as I had often felt the smoothness of my daughters' balenciaga replica handbags after it had been shampooed; when memory takes its strongest hold, our own bodies become ghosts, haunting us with the gestures of our younger selves"How do I talk about a process that's at least partially supernatural?" ThereThe root of the matter Yet Wireman looked calm"Edgar!" he exclaimed "Edgar what?" The sonofabitch actually laughed"If you tell them thatthey will believe you I opened my mouth to refute thisThought of Dal?'s workThought of that wonderful Van Gogh picture, Starry NightThought of certain Andrew Wyeth paintings - not Christina's World but his interiors: spare rooms where the light is both 558 sane and strange, as if coming from two directions at the same timeI closed my mouth again "I can't tell you just what to say," Wireman said, "but I can give you something like this He held up the brochure/invitation"I can give you a template iv "Hello?" I was sitting on the couch in the Florida roomMy heart was beating heavilyThis vintage cartier watch was one of those calls - everyone's made a few - where you simultaneously hope it will go through the first time, so you can get it over with, and hope it won't, so you can put off some hard and probably painful conversation a little while longer I got Option One; Pam answered on the first ring All I could hope was this conversation would go better than the last oneThan the last couple, in fact 559 "Pam, it's Edgar "Hello, Edgar," she said cautiously"How are you?" "I'mI've been talking with my friend WiremanHe showed me the invitation the two of you worked up The two of you worked up That sounded unfriendlyBut what other way was there to put it? "Yes?" Her voice was impossible to read I drew in a breath and jumpedGod hates a coward, Wireman says"I called to say thanksI was being a horse's assYour jumping in like that was what I needed The silence was long enough for me to wonder if maybe she'd quietly hung up at some pointThen she said, "I'm white leather chanel handbag still here, Eddie - I'm just picking myself up off the floorI can't remember the last time you apologized to me Had I apologized? Well"Then I'm sorry about that, too," I said "I owe you an apology myself," she said, "so I guess this one's a wash "You? What do you have to apologize for?" 560 "Tom Riley calledHe's back on his medsHe's going to, I quote, 'see someone' again - by which I assume he means a shrink - and he called to thank me for saving his lifeHave you ever had someone call and thank you for that?" "No Although I'd recently had someone call and thank me for saving his sight, so I kind of knew what she was talking about "It's quite an experience'If not for you I'd be dead now' Those were his exact wordsAnd I couldn't tell him he had you to thank, because it would have sounded crazy It was as if a tight belt cinching my middle had suddenly been cut awaySometimes things work out for the bestSometimes they actually do "I've been on fake cartier roadster to Ilse about this show of yours "Yes, I-" "Well, Illy and Lin both, but when I talked to Ilse, I turned the conversation toward Tom and I could tell right away that she doesn't know anything about what went on between the two of us I was wrong about that, tooAnd showed a very unpleasant side of myself while I was at it 561 I realized, with alarm, that she was crying "I've shown several unlovely sides of myself, to several people, since you left me I didn't leave you! I almost shoutedClose enough to make sweat pop out on my foreheadI didn't leave you, you asked for a divorce, you witting quench! What I said was "Pam, that's enough "But it was so hard to believe, even after you called and told me those other thingsYou know, about my new TV I started to ask who Puffball was, then remembered the cat "I'm doing better, thoughI've started going to church againCan you believe that? And a therapistI see her once a week She paused, then rushed cheap chanel handbag on

And all at once I began to laugh Kamen sat with his huge dark brown hands on his doorstop knees, looking at me with his little I've-seen-everything smileExcept on his face nothing was littleHe let my laughter run its course and then asked me what was so funny "You're telling me I'm too rich to kill myself," I said "I'm telling you not now, Edgar, and that's all I'm telling youI'm also going to make a suggestion that goes against a good deal of my own practical experienceBut I have a very strong intuition in your case - the same sort of 31 intuition that caused me to give you the dollI propose you try a geographical "Beg pardon?" "It's a form of recovery often attempted by latestage alcoholicsThey hope that a change of location will give them a fresh start I felt a flicker of somethingI won't say it was hope, but it was something "It rarely works," Kamen said"The old-timers in Alcoholics Anonymous, who have an answer for everything - it's their curse as well as their blessing, although very few ever realize it - like to say, 'Put an asshole on a plane in Boston, an asshole gets off in Seattle'" "So where does that leave me?" I asked "Right now it leaves you in suburban St What I'm suggesting is that you pick fake gucci fabric someplace far from here and go thereYou're in a unique position to do so, given your financial situation and marital status "For how long?" "At least a year He looked at me inscrutably His large face was made for such an expression; 32 etched on King Tut's tomb, I believe it might have made even Howard Carter consider"And if you do anything at the end of that year, Edgar, for God's sake - no, for your daughters' sake - make it look good He had nearly disappeared into the old sofa; now he began to struggle up againI stepped forward to help him and he waved me awayHe made it to his feet at last, wheezing more loudly than ever, and took up his briefcaseHe looked down at me from his height of six and a half feet, those staring eyeballs with their yellowish corneas made even larger by his glasses, which had very thick lenses "Edgar, does anything make you happy?" I considered the surface of this question (the only part that seemed safe) and said, "I used to sketch It had actually been a little more than just sketching, but that was long agoSince then, other things had intervened Both of which were now going or gone 33 I thought of telling him I'd once dreamed of art school - had even bought the occasional cartier replica watch ladies santos 100 steel book of reproductions when I could afford to - and then didn'tIn the last thirty years, my contribution to the world of art had consisted of little more than doodles while taking telephone calls, and it had probably been ten years since I'd bought the sort of picture-book that belongs on a coffee table where it can impress your friends "Since then?" I considered lying - didn't want to seem like a complete fixated drudge - but stuck to the truth One-armed men should tell the truth whenever possibleWireman doesn't say that; I do "Take it up again," Kamen advised "Hedges," I said, bemused He looked surprised and a little disappointed, as if I had failed to understand a very simple concept"Hedges against the night vi 34 A week or so later, Tom Riley came to see me again By then the leaves had started to turn color, and I remember the clerks putting up Halloween posters in the Wal-Mart where I bought my first sketchpads since collegehell, maybe since high school What I remember most clearly about that visit is how embarrassed and ill-at-ease Tom seemed I offered him a beer and he took me up on itWhen I came back from the kitchen, he was looking at a pen-and-ink I'd done - three palm trees silhouetted against an cheap rolex watches expanse of water, a bit of screened-in porch jutting into the left foreground "This is pretty good," he said"You do this?" "Nah, the elvesThey come in the nightCobble my shoes, draw the occasional picture He laughed too hard and set the picture back down on the desk"Don't look much like Minnesota, dere," he said, doing a Swedish accent "I copied it out of a book," I saidI had actually used a photograph from a Realtor's brochureIt had been taken from the so-called "Florida room" of Salmon Point, the place I had just leased for a yearI had never been in Florida, not even on vacation, but that picture 35 had called to something deep in me, and for the first time since the accident, I felt actual anticipationIt was thin, but it was there"What can I do for you, Tom? If it's about the business- " "Actually, Pam asked me to come out"I didn't much want to, but I didn't feel I could say noOld times' sake, you know Tom went back to the days when The Freemantle Company had been nothing but three pickup trucks, a Caterpillar D9, and a lot of big dreamsI'm not going to bite you "She's got herself a lawyerShe's going ahead with this divorce business "I never thought she wouldn't I still didn't remember choking her, but balenciaga replicas handbags I remembered the look in her eyes when she told me I hadAnd there was this: once Pam started down a road, she rarely turned around "She wants to know if you're going to be using Bozie I had to smile at thatWilliam Bozeman III was a dapper, manicured, bow-tie-wearing sixty-five, 36 wheeldog of the Minneapolis law-firm my company used, and if he knew Tom and I had been calling him Bozie for the last twenty years, he would probably have suffered an embolism "I hadn't thought about itWhat's the deal, Tom? What exactly does she want?" He drank off half his beer, then put the glass on a bookshelf beside my half-assed sketchHis cheeks had flushed a dull brick red"She said she hopes it doesn't have to be meanShe said, 'I don't want to be rich, and I don't want a fightI just want him to be fair to me and the girls, the way he always was, will you tell him that?' So I am I got up, went to the big window between the living room and the porch, and looked out at the lakeSoon I would be able to go out into my very own "Florida room," whatever that was, and look out at the Gulf of MexicoI wondered if it would be any better, any different, than looking out at Lake PhalenI thought I would settle for different, at least to begin dior monogram bag w