Gramma (short story)
| "Gramma" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen King |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy Horror short story |
| Published in |
Weirdbook (1st release), Skeleton Crew |
| Media type | Magazine (1st release) |
| Publication date | 1984 |
"Gramma" is a short horror story by American author Stephen King. It was first published in Weirdbook magazine in 1984 and collected in King's 1985 collection called Skeleton Crew. Certain characters/creatures/unearthly powers featured in the works of H. P. Lovecraft also appear in this story, making it a story set in the Cthulhu Mythos.
An 11-year-old boy named George Bruckner is at home with his mother, Ruth, when the two find out that George's 14-year-old brother Buddy has broken his leg playing baseball. George's mother must go into the city, an hour away, to visit Buddy in the hospital, but someone must stay home to watch her own mother, a huge, cantankerous, ancient, bedridden woman. George reluctantly volunteers.
As George sets about the kitchen after his mother leaves, he begins to think about his "Gramma" and recalls the first time she came to the house. He had been six years old, and the old woman demanded that he come to her that she could "give him a hug". George was terrified by the idea and cried endlessly. His mother eventually pacified Gramma, promising that he would hug her "in time".
George waits for his mother to return. As the hours pass, strange thoughts - events he had witnessed earlier - begin to surface in his mind. He recalls overhearing his mother's siblings begging her to care for the old woman: "You're the only one who can quiet her down, Ruth." Eventually, Ruth was forced to leave San Francisco and move to Castle Rock, Maine to care for their mother. George also recalls that Gramma had been kicked out of her church, as well as dismissed from her position as a schoolteacher, for owning particular books. He finally remembers that the woman had been infertile for a long while, any pregnancies she did achieve ending in miscarriages or stillbirths and it was only after being excommunicated that she became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy child.
George suddenly hears a scraping sound on sheets; he imagines Gramma's long, ragged fingernails rubbing against her bed. He enters to check on her and watches the obese, white, almost formless woman for a few moments. Quite suddenly, he recalls other memories: his Gramma uttering strange words one night, and relatives dying the next morning. George abruptly realizes that his grandmother is a witch, having gained dark powers from reading the forbidden tomes.
...
Wikipedia