Stephen King - Skeleton Crew

I could hardly believe it. “She didn’t ever want to come across to the mainland?” I asked.

“No, she said she didn’t want to cross the Reach until she died,” Tommy said.

The term Reach was unfamiliar to me, and Tommy explained it. He also told me the lobstermen’s joke about how it’s a mighty long Reach between Jonesport and London, and I put it in the story. It was originally published in Yankee as “Do the Dead Sing?”, a nice enough title, but after some thought I have gone back to the original title here.

Well, that’s it. I don’t know about you, but every time I come to the end, it’s like waking up. It’s a little sad to lose the dream, but everything all around — the real stuff — looks damned good, just the same. Thanks for coming along with me; I enjoyed it. I always do. I hope you arrived safe, and that you’ll come again — because as that funny butler says in that odd New York club, there are always more tales.

STEPHEN KING

Bangor, Maine

Stephen Kingis the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Mr. Mercedes, winner of the 2015 Edgar Award for Best Novel; Doctor Sleep; and Under the Dome, a major TV miniseries on CBS. His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best Mystery/Thriller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and a 2014 National Medal of Arts. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1985 by Stephen King

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ISBN 978-1-5011-4130-0 (eBook)

The author gratefully acknowledges permission from the following companies to reprint material in their control: Famous Music Publishing Companies for lyrics from “That’s Amore” by Jack Brooks and Harry Warren, copyright Paramount Music Corporation, 1953; copyright © renewed Paramount Music Corporation, 1981. Sherlyn Publishing Co., Inc., for lyrics from “I’m Your Boogie Man” by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, copyright © Sherlyn Publ. Co., Inc. and Harrick Music Co., 1976. All rights reserved. Tree Publishing Co., Inc., for lyrics from “Okie From Muskogee” by Merle Haggard, copyright © Tree Publishing Co., Inc., 1969. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.

“The Mist” first appeared in Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley, copyright © Stephen King, 1980

“Here There Be Tygers” copyright © Stephen King, 1968, 1985

“The Monkey” copyright © Montcalm Publishing Company, 1980

“Cain Rose Up” copyright © Stephen King, 1968, 1985

“Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut” first appeared in Redbook magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1981

“The Jaunt” first appeared in Twilight Zone magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1981

“The Wedding Gig” first appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1980

“Paranoid: A Chant” copyright © Stephen King, 1985

“The Raft” first appeared in Gallery magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1982

“Word Processor of the Gods” (as “The Word Processor”) first appeared in Playboy magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1983

“The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands” first appeared in Shadows 4, edited by Charles L. Grant, published by Doubleday & Co., Inc., copyright © Stephen King, 1982

“Beachworld” first appeared in Weird Tales, copyright © Stephen King, 1985

“The Reaper’s Image” first appeared in Startling Mystery Stories, copyright © Stephen King, 1969

“Nona” first appeared in Shadows, edited by Charles L. Grant, published by Doubleday & Co., Inc., copyright © Stephen King, 1978

“For Owen” copyright © Stephen King, 1985

“Survivor Type” first appeared in Terrors, edited by Charles L. Grant, published by Doubleday & Co., Inc., copyright © Stephen King, 1982

“Uncle Otto’s Truck” first appeared in Yankee magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1983

“Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1)” copyright © Stephen King, 1985

“Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2)” first appeared in New Terrors 2, edited by Ramsey Campbell, copyright © Stephen King, 1982

“Gramma” first appeared in Weird Book magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1984

“The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet” first appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1984

“The Reach” (as “Do the Dead Sing?”) first appeared in Yankee magazine, copyright © Stephen King, 1981