Ray Rexer's "RAY - VINGS"

Interviews from Within #2: Jack and Wolf

I've met some characters in my time. Real characters. Stephen King characters, that is. I've met with them, talked with them, interviewed them. It's true. And if you've read the last issue of HORRORFEST Press, you know for yourself it's true. In that issue we chatted a bit with Brent Norton that's right, Brent Norton, straight out of the pages of "The Mist," SK's great apocalyptic novella. Yup, Brent Norton, dour attorney-at-law, founding member of the Flat-Earth Society, Stephen King character. And real. I spoke with good old Brent just before he led his little band of Flat-Earthers to a rather grisly death outside the Federal Foods supermarket.

But I did speak with him; I did interview him. It was easy (and if you read the last issue, you know this also). I simply entered the scene Brent was in. I "scene-surfed," so to speak, actually skipped right into that scene, right into "The Mist." Anyone can do it. Hers's how. Just sit in a quiet room, open your book to the scene you want to enter, sip slowly from a caffeine-free Diet Coke (don't ask), close your eyes and say to yourself, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home." And bingo! There you are. Just like that. That's all there is to it. You just gotta believe.

Crazy, right? Yup. But, hey, it's a crazy world. And here's the second in a series of crazy interviews I obtained by "scene-surfing." Interviews with the characters of Stephen King.

Interviews from within.

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Daleville, Indiana. Two o'clock in the afternoon. The smell of grilled meat. The sun is shining dully and it bounces blunt spears off the big red and orange sign in front of the Daleville Burger King. On the curb out front of the restaurant sit Jack Sawyer and Wolf. A crowd of children stand around them, astounded, fascinated by Wolf. Jack's hair is wet and his sneakers are ragged. He looks up at me with sharp, piercing eyes as I approach and then draws his attention back to the kids. Wolf looks up also through round John Lennon glasses, nostrils flaring a bit, Whopper juice running down his hairy chin. He is huge, much bulkier than I expected. His shoulders seem to go on forever. He is wearing Oshkosh bib overalls and a gray Indiana University sweatshirt at least two sizes too small. The children point at him and stare.

Jack Sawyer: Why don't you kids get away and leave us alone, huh? Go on. Leave us alone. (they don't move)

Wolf: GOD POUND YOU KIDS! DON'T LOOK AT ME! DON'T MAKE ME FEEL FUNNY! EVERYBODY MAKES ME FEEL FUNNY! (now they scatter)

Ray Rexer: Good for you, Wolf.

Wolf. (miserably) Wolf shouldn't have yelled. They were just little ones.

RR: Big fat scare'll do them a lot of good.

Jack: (suspiciously) Who are you?

RR: I'm a friend...an interviewer. I'd just like to talk with you and your, uh, cousin for a few minutes. Ask you some questions, if you don't mind.

Wolf: (nostrils flaring) Stranger, ain'tcha?

RR: In a way, though I've met you both before.

Wolf. Can smell it. Wolf can smell it, right here and now!

Jack: You've met us?

RR: Yeah-bob!

Jack: Speedy?

RR: Know him, too.

Wolf. (grabbing my hand and pumping) Friend! Good old Wolf! Shaking hands right here and now! Can smell it, Jacky! Friend!

Jack: Okay, I'm convinced. Ask your questions.

RR: Well...first off, what's it feel like to be a modern day boy hero, Jack?

Jack: Aw, I'm no hero. I'm scared most of the time. I'm just trying to save my Mom, that's all.

RR: But you've done some pretty heroic things so far and you're going to do many more before it's all over. I think you know that. You survived an encounter with Osmond, for instance.

Jack: He's a goat's penis. He cut me, whipped me, and if I get a chance...

RR: And you survived the Oatley Tunnel and Smokey Updike, that tyrant. You survived the Elroy thing, for crying
out loud. Only a real hero could do things like that.

Jack: Sometimes I cry for my Mom.

RR: Oh. But you've also seen some pretty fantastic sights during your travelin', Jack, haven't you?

Jack: (dreamily) The Territories! I've been there. Where men jump from towers and fly. Where the air is so clean and sweet that if someone pulls a radish from the ground you can smell it a quarter mile away.

RR: Where good old Wolf comes from.

Jack: Yeah! That's right!

Wolf: Right here and now, Jacky! That's right here and now!

RR: What would you like to be, Jack, if...I mean, when you get older?

Jack: (confused) I'm not sure. I think I'd like to be a professional baseball player, maybe for Boston. But I don't really know why. Or maybe play guitar in a band. Again, I really don't know why.

RR: Wolf, how about you?

Wolf: Wolf knows! God-pounding right, he does! Gonna have litter-babies and tend the herd! Right here and now, I am!

RR: What's your favorite book, Jack?

Jack: Anything by Mark Twain.

RR: I should've guessed. Wolf?

Wolf: Easy! The Book of Good Farming. That's it! That's the only book! The only one! Wolf knows that!

RR: How about movies? Any faves?

Jack: I used to like Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards" and his "Lord of the Rings" feature. They're both in Dolby sound.

Wolf: Wolf don't like movies. Bad dark place. See the fire! Got to get out!

Jack: We had a bad experience at the Town Line Sixplex a while back.

RR: I know. Page 303 of the p/b.

Wolf: Good white stuff, though. Wolf. Without the pee!

RR: What's your plan from here...where are you headed?

Jack: Going west to look up an old friend in Illinois. We're gonna try to hitch.

Wolf: Can't, Jacky. Wolf can't hitch.

Jack: Why, mister, you offering us a lift?

Wolf: Can't.

RR: Sorry, I didn't exactly drive here. You're headed to see Richard.

Jack: How do you know that?

RR: King told me.

Wolf: The King's dead. God's nails! Everyone knows that! Queen Laura rules now! Wolf knows that!

RR: When this is all over, Jack, what would you like to do?

Jack: I'd like to go back to being just a boy, that's all. I'm tired. Is that too much to ask? To be just a boy? I'm only twelve.

RR: I doubt if you'll ever be "just a boy" again, Jack, if you know what I mean.

Jack: (nods slowly and looks at me with sharp, sad eyes) We should get going now. Wolf and I got miles to go before we keep. Miles.

RR: Enough of this jaw-chin, right?

Jack: (smiling) Right! Time to get a-travellin'.

RR: Well, good luck, Jack. It was great meeting you and Wolf in person. Just great.

Jack: Thanks.

RR: Oh, hey, Wolf?

Wolf: Right here! Wolf! Right here and now!

RR: You protect the Herd, now, you hear?

Wolf: You pounded that nail right! Wolf will! God-pounding right he will!

And with that Jack and Wolf got up from the curb, a young boy not really a boy, a huge wolf not really a wolf. They walked over to a battered red pick-up and after a few moments conversation with the driver, Jack climbed in the cab and Wolf jumped into the open bed of the truck. They drove off with a wave, dust roiling in the truck's wake, Wolf grinning hugely as the Indiana wind whipped wildly through his shaggy hair.

I'll miss them. I will. But only until I decide to meet up with them again.

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NEXT TIME: A RIDE WITH TRASHCAN MAN AND THE KID - AND YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT HAPPY-CRAPPY!

Horrorfest Press Fall/Winter 1990 #3, pp. 10-11