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Pages: 90
Goes good with: Chili dog, chips, ice cold tea
I always love a good Stephen King read. His stories are off-the-wall bizarre, and he has a way of getting inside his characters’ heads and delivering some wacko thoughts in a way that makes you laugh out loud. King doesn’t write much these days, but every now and then you’ll come across a goody like the longish short story, “Mile 81.”
Ten-year-old Pete Simmons wants to hang out with his brother and the big kids, but it’s not safe—he could break an arm, or, heaven forbid, his neck while riding his bike out at the sandpit. So, instead, he’s stuck by himself with nothing to do because his age-appropriate friends are elsewhere. In an effort to save himself from a boring day, Pete decides to explore the abandoned Mile 81 rest area where the Really Big Kids hang out. Maybe he’ll have an adventure worthy enough to impress his brother and friends.
Once there, he finds a bottle of vodka, takes a few sips, and falls asleep. While Pete sleeps, a muddy, driverless, beat-up station wagon pulls into the rest area. The driver’s side door swings open like an invitation to crawl in. Those who approach it think it’s odd, but harmless—that is until it eats them, sucking them in with a slurp, and crunching on their bones.
It seems Christine isn’t the only bad car on Stephen King’s fictional roads, except this one would rather have you for dinner, instead of Roadkill. “Mile 81” boasts a short, simple, straightforward plot involving colorful characters who end up in a very bad situation and don’t usually survive.
“Mile 81” isn’t really scary (except maybe to a five-year-old), just horrifying when you stop and think about what the car’s doing. You have to suspend your belief and dwell in the land of make-believe to really get into the plot of the story, which isn’t hard to do when you long to explore the fantastical and leave the real world behind for a couple of hours—no matter how creepy the alternate reality gets.
With unconventional characters, a warped plot, and a dose of reality thrown in with the crazy and uncanny, you get another hypnotic tale of horror by the master himself—Stephen King. A twisted piece of entertainment that’ll keep you riveted to every page—definitely worth two hours of a lazy afternoon.
