In the end, there is a newspaper article claiming that Wilfred committed suicide by biting himself to death. Wilfred lost his farm and moved to Omaha, where the rats continued to haunt him and, eventually, they kill him. He killed himself and was shipped back to Wilfred with rat bites all over his face. Henry took her to a shed, where she and their baby died. Their luck finally ran out, and Shannon was shot. Along the way, they robbed dozens of establishments. They ran away from Omaha together, heading for California. Arlette’s ghost came to him and prophesied the story of Henry and Shannon. Wilfred was bitten by another rat and got an infection that turned into a near-deadly fever. Henry ran away from home to find Shannon. Henry got his girlfriend Shannon pregnant, but there was no money for a marriage, so her wealthy father sent her to Omaha to give the child for adoption. But the rats continued to plague Wilfred. After they killed Arlette and hid her body in a well full of rats, they were successful in evading the law. He psychologically manipulated his young, naïve, and pious son into helping him.

Wilfred did not want her to go, and he did not want the land to be sold to a greedy corporation that intended to build a slaughterhouse, so he decided the only thing he could do would be to kill her.

She wanted to sell her land and move to the city after divorcing Wilfred so that she could live an independent life. In 1922, Arlette had inherited 100 acres from her father. In the narrative present, Wilfred is in a hotel full of rats, writing his confession in order to prepare to kill himself because he is plagued by guilt. He tells the reader that he murdered his wife, Arlette, in 1922, and he coerced his 14-year-old son, Henry, into helping him commit the crime and get away with it. “1922” is the first story, and it is presented in the form of a letter than the narrator, Wilfred, writes from a hotel room in Omaha in 1930. The collection consists of four separate novellas. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: King, Stephen.

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