Some stupid questions about In The Tall Grass

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Ashley Cordova

New Member
Jul 12, 2014
2
9
29
What a macabre little short story. I have two stupid questions that are probably not even answerable, but I thought I'd post them here just in case:

- Were Cal and Becky always going to end up in the tall grass? When I first read it, I assumed that it was the fairly standard "tourists get lost in crazy environment" story, like Children of the Corn, but then Becky mentions having dreams in which she drives at night and hears a child shouting...

- What happens to those who touch the rock after they've done that? I assumed that they went mad, and killed the others (like Tobin's parents), but then remained in the grass. So - where are the other Tall Grass victims whose cars Cal and Becky notice? Why don't the new victims, at the very end of the book, hear Cal and Becky's voices? Did they die and I just didn't realize it?

- Is there any rhyme or reason to who is able to find the rock and who isn't?

Sorry, these are probably really dumb. I was just interested to see if anyone else had any input.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Interesting questions, and probably only Mr. King and Mr. Hill have definitive answers. It's been a while since I read the story, but ere is my take on your questions, though:
--Wow. I didn't make that connection! Maybe they werent 'destined' so much as more susceptible to hearing the cry.
--Other victims might be just as lost as Cal and Becky, and wandering in a different direction. I think once you touch the rock, you're not entirely in this world. New victims didn't hear C&B because the grass didn't want them to hear, if that makes sense.
--The rock is capricious, so probably not. When it's bored or hungry, or whatever, it calls someone.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
...lack of cowbell is the answer...
morecowbell.jpg
 
Mar 12, 2010
6,538
29,004
Texas
I just read In the Tall Grass yesterday and I'm not really sure what to say about it. It was for sure a disturbing story.

I didn't really get the connection between the grass and the rock. I loved how the grass altered time and space. I wasn't too crazy about the rock.
 

Wayoftheredpanda

Flaming Wonder Telepath
May 15, 2018
4,907
22,094
20
I liked it but I felt they left out a lot of stuff that could've been expanded upon,

Like I really like the idea of the townspeople taking advantage of the grass but that was just an idea that only got a sentence or two. Plus, if the townspeople really did take advantage of the spooky grass, wouldn't it make sense for them to get rid of the cars?

What Hill and King really should've written about is a basketball team going into the grass, now that would've been something!