Gwendy's Button Box 125791

   There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974 twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zigzag up the cliffside.

  At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. From a bit farther away comes the chink of an aluminum bat hitting a baseball as the Senior League kids practice for the Labor Day charity game.

  One day, a stranger calls to Gwendy: 'Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me.'

On a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black suit coat, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small neat black hat. The time when will come Gwendy has nightmares about that hat...

  Journey back to Castle Rock in this chilling new novella by Stephen King, bestselling author of The Bazaar Dreams of Bad, and Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December.