Bad Little Kid

[Pucker]

This story disturbed me a great deal, and that's a good thing.

Sooner or later tragedy, in one form or another, strikes everyone. It cannot be avoided in this world you and I never made. The bad little kid -- to my mind -- represents the answer to all those why questions that neither faith nor intellect can ever seem to manage in the face of all the bad things that keep happening to all the (reasonably) good people.

He's what I like to call a capering god of mischief, and whether or not he is actually there will not answer the question of whether or not the people among whom he capers are crazy (or not).

 

[GNTLGNT]

From the description of the kid, did anyone else think of Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum? (from the older, animated Disney Alice in Wonderland).

...yes!....

 

[aintshesweet]

I enjoyed this story as well! I had a question.

Spoiler

When the George Hallas kills the bad little kid, did the bad little kid possess an innocent kid's body? I'm asking because he obviously shows up later on, so he is more of some type of entity...or his beanie does anyway!

 

[Pucker]

I enjoyed this story as well! I had a question.

Spoiler

When the George Hallas kills the bad little kid, did the bad little kid possess an innocent kid's body? I'm asking because he obviously shows up later on, so he is more of some type of entity...or his beanie does anyway!

It's an interesting question.

Spoiler

It doesn't seem likely that the kid is a possessed human, as we might expect even a possessed body to age. The body is important somehow, because the kid shoes fear when Hallas comes for it. But clearly the entity -- whatever it is -- can exist outside the body, as we see with the beanie in Bradley's car at the end. How Hallas knows the kid might come back is unclear, but he believes it ... and Bradley wonders, too.

This is why I am not entirely convinced that there even is any bad little kid.

Spoiler

The only people who saw the beanie were the guy who told the story and the guy who heard the story. Was it there?

 

[aintshesweet]

Spoiler

The only people who saw the beanie were the guy who told the story and the guy who heard the story. Was it there?

It's an interesting question.

Spoiler

It doesn't seem likely that the kid is a possessed human, as we might expect even a possessed body to age. The body is important somehow, because the kid shoes fear when Hallas comes for it. But clearly the entity -- whatever it is -- can exist outside the body, as we see with the beanie in Bradley's car at the end. How Hallas knows the kid might come back is unclear, but he believes it ... and Bradley wonders, too.

This is why I am not entirely convinced that there even is any bad little kid.

Spoiler

The only people who saw the beanie were the guy who told the story and the guy who heard the story. Was it there?

Spoiler

But his young friend, Marlee saw him, right? Were Hallas's girlfriend Vicky and housekeeper Nonie having visual and auditory hallucinations? There was a lady at the church that saw a little boy with a beanie propeller after his wife and the priest fell down the stairs. I don't know, but I know Hallas said the kid came after anyone he cared about.

 

[Neesy]

I live just down the coast from Scarborough in North Yorkshire in the UK and there's one of those in the USA too isn't there? I don't think it's on the coast though.

There is a Scarborough Ontario in Canada - I used to live there!

 

[Pucker]

Spoiler

The only people who saw the beanie were the guy who told the story and the guy who heard the story. Was it there?

Spoiler

But his young friend, Marlee saw him, right? Were Hallas's girlfriend Vicky and housekeeper Nonie having visual and auditory hallucinations? There was a lady at the church that saw a little boy with a beanie propeller after his wife and the priest fell down the stairs. I don't know, but I know Hallas said the kid came after anyone he cared about.

They saw the bad little kid, but only Hallas and Bradley saw

Spoiler

the beanies that were delivered as messages.

To my mind, everything else can be explained away rationally, in each instance.

 

[GNTLGNT]

 

[Owenk]

If Wiki is correct (because Wiki is never wrong, correct? ), there are 11 US states with a town or city named Birmingham.

Setting Birmingham aside, this gets particularly confusing when you are half listening to King books which are so often set in the North East (Massachusetts, Maine etc) where almost everywhere seems to be the namesake of somewhere over here, Oxford (where I am sat now) Milton (where I am going later) Northampton (where I am going tomorrow), Chelsea (wehre I went to school etc etc etc.) It does get frightfully confusing for us over this side of the pond sometimes!

 

[Rrty]

Okay, I finished this one last week, and let me say that it is one of the best stories I have read from King. Just superb. This is King trying to sell a story to Cavalier (or whatever the name of the magazine was) to pay a bill. I had a lot of fun with it.

On the date question: I agree, that may have been a mistake. I don't have the book in front of me, but I think there was another mistake as well, when the prose accidentally went first-person for a quick moment. Did anyone else notice that? I'll have to double-check.

That image of the Cartoon Network character does indeed remind me of the bad little kid.

Spoiler

On the issue of the body: you know, that's an excellent question. Is it a spirit or not? I didn't think about that, but some here are definitely smarter readers than I am.

Why would he have shown fear if it was a possessed body? Or, if the spirit and body were linked and were the same, just one organism, how could it return? The fear aspect seems to indicate it was a human kid who simply had supernatural powers, but the fact that another kid comes along seems to indicate that there are either more, separate kids, or that it is a spirit. I like the former concept better. However, some have mentioned an It scenario, and that could be, too.

Also, I wish it wasn't the lawyer who is to receive a visitation from the kid. It should have been the prosecutor, or maybe the prosecutor and the warden both. The lawyer seemed like a nice enough guy. The prosecutor character irritated me (can't remember why exactly without checking, but didn't he tell the lawyer to be quiet in the execution chamber?).

 

[lowman]

Really enjoyed this one everytime the kid showed up i was was like oh no here we go. Just a cool little story me thinks.

 

[doowopgirl]

Really enjoyed this one everytime the kid showed up i was was like oh no here we go. Just a cool little story me thinks.

As long as it's not me who sees him. But yeah, a cool little story.

 

[Arkay Lynchpin]

I totally got a pennywise vibe whole reading this!

 

[GNTLGNT]

...I was underwhelmed with the story, once the premise was established the rest seemed contrived....it had all the usual King flavoring, but just seemed artificial to me....yep, that's right-I said I didn't like something, call me a fanboy now!......

 

[stacy270]

...I was underwhelmed with the story, once the premise was established the rest seemed contrived....it had all the usual King flavoring, but just seemed artificial to me....yep, that's right-I said I didn't like something, call me a fanboy now!......

Say it isn't so!

 

[not_nadine]

*

 

[Neesy]

*

not_nadine - is that a

Spoiler

teddy bear ars*hole?

 

[Neesy]

not_nadine - is that a

Spoiler

teddy bear ars*hole?

if not, it must be a polar bear in the snow, then...

Spoiler

bent over in a snow storm

 

[GNTLGNT]

 

[not_nadine]

not_nadine - is that a

Spoiler

teddy bear ars*hole?

No. I just edited a post without words.