Needful Things

by Stephen King

But the real reason he’d gone was the one most bad decisions have in common: it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Polly’s arthritis was in her hands; his, it seemed, was in his heart, and who could say which of them had gotten the worst of it?

It seemed that his tears had a lot in common with the possessions of his dead loved ones; you never got to the end of them.

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

shit happens, life’s a bitch and then you die, tough titty said the kitty.

Another inflexible rule of life—When you really need to get drunk, you can never afford to do it.

Perhaps all the really special things I sell aren’t what they appear to be. Perhaps they are actually gray things with only one remarkable property—the ability to take the shapes of those things which haunt the dreams of men and women.” He paused, then added thoughtfully: “Perhaps they are dreams themselves.”

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.

And wasn’t that how con-men worked? They split you off from the herd, got you on your own, made you comfortable, and then showed you how you could own the Lincoln Tunnel for this one-time-only low price.

The devil’s voice is sweet to hear.