The Long Walk

by Richard Bachman

“No thanks. I’ll take that coffin with the lead sleeve. Every time.” “Although you’d only actually need it the once,” Garraty said with a horrified little giggle.

He could see the headlines: LONG WALK WON BY DEAD MAN.

“It’s like practicing pole-vaulting all your life and then getting to the Olympics and saying, ‘What the hell do I want to jump over that stupid bar for?’ ” “Yeah.”

“Once upon a time—” “Oh, who wants to hear a fucking fairy story?” Stebbins asked. McVries giggled a little. “You’ll hear what I want to tell you!” Garraty said shrewishly. “You want to hear it or not?”

“I s’pose a fairy story’s better than no story at all.” “It’s not a fairy story, anyway. Just because it’s in a world that never was doesn’t mean it’s a fairy story. It doesn’t mean—” “Are you gonna tell it or not?” McVries asked pettishly. “Once upon a time,” Garraty began, “there was a white knight that went out into the world on a Sacred Quest. He left his castle and walked through the Enchanted Forest—” “Knights ride,” Stebbins objected. “Rode through the Enchanted Forest, then. Rode. And he had many strange adventures. He fought off thousands of trolls and goblins and a whole shitload of wolves. All right? And he finally got to the king’s castle and asked permission to take Gwendolyn, the famous Lady Fair, out walking.”