Needful Things

by Stephen King

Come in, my friend. Enter freely, and leave some of the happiness you bring!” He smiled and stuck out his hand. The smile

At fifty-one you had to keep running just to escape the avalanche of your own past.

the more one has to go through because of something one owns, the more one wants to keep that thing.

Because in America, you could have anything you wanted, just as long as you could pay for it. If you couldn’t pay, or refused to pay, you would remain needful forever.

It was funny stuff, sanity. When it was taken away, you didn’t know it. You didn’t feel its departure. You only really knew it when it was restored, like some rare wild bird which lived and sang within you not by decree but by choice.