WHY STEPHEN KING'S CUJO BITES THE BIG ONE

Firstly the book was an interesting read. It was only settling back into one's mind did some of the overlooked logic gaps become apparent.

Cujo was a rabid Saint Bernard.  He terrorized a woman and her asthmatic child who were trapped inside of a Ford Pinto. All the character could do was whine and scream. She even locked the doors in an effort to keep the dog out.

I have encountered three rabid raccoons while I've lived out here in the boonies. When an animal has rabies, it dehydrates. It gets weak. It lashes out at changes of light and shadow.  It loses it balance easily. Often the hind legs stop functioning.  It is attracted to noise.

Why didn't the woman trapped in the car do one of the following actions:

 A) Roll down the window, and when the dog stuck its head in, roll it up and choke it. Car windows are hard to break. 

B) Roll down the window and use the cigarette lighter to blind it?

C) Roll down the window after getting the tire iron out of the back and bashing and gouging out the eyes and blinding the dog with it. Some Pintos were hatchbacks and could be accessed from inside the back seat to the boot of the car and obtain materials. (Depends on the model...)

D) Strap Stephen King into a Pinto and let him sweat it out in 90 degree weather.

My wife and I watched the movie. She knew what a Pinto was and how they were made and thought out loud: "No, no, no, no!!!"

 In the movie the kid lives. In the book the kid dies.

Either way, too much suffering for so little thinking.

DELAWARE ROADSIDE KITSCH

Found on Route 13 Southbound close to Boyd's Corner.

I assume from now on, there is an ethnicity to be found in seafood.

Druid Crabs are obviously blue.

I had a virius induced fever that had me lying low, tucked into bed, covered with five blankets and I still felt cold even after I put on thermals, shirt pants and sweater. The images of fever flew into my mind's eye and kept on, one after another. Plants, animals, situations, concepts, math, books, pictures flowed on and on. There was a break and I lifted a book off the bedstand and opened it and tried to find a short story. Real short, because my attention span was limited.

What I read i didn't exactly believe. An actress was worried about losing too much weight. She looked normal enough, but the scales dropped each passing day. In order to stay alive, she needed publicity.

I dropped the book. I felt a little stunned. And went back to sleep.

When I woke up, I picked up the book and tried to locate the short story, just to be sure I wasn't fever deluding myself...

The story can be found in THE BLACK GONDOLIER by Fritz Lieber. It's called "The Casket-Demon". I wonder what Fritz Lieber would think of today's headline grabbers: people with no abilities, talent or skills. Famous for being famous.

It's an errie little story. Not as well known as his "Girl With the Hungry Eyes"... I didn't locate a date for the story.

AMOEBAS



concept and caption: Darrell Schweitzer

artwork: Robert Whitaker Sirignano