Excerpt from From A Buick 8 by Stephen King, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Don't answer that letter yet," I said. "I want to make a call before you do."

I thought he'd be curious, but he only nodded his head. I looked at him sitting there, holding the letter on his lap, and thought that he looked like a boy who has been denied a place in the college of his choice instead of being offered a fat scholarship incentive to go there.

Then I thought again. Not just denied a place in college, maybe, but in life itself. That wasn't true -- the letter he'd gotten from Pitt was only one of the things that proved it -- but I've no doubt he felt that way just then. I don't know why success often leaves us feeling lower-spirited than failure, but I know it's true. And remember that he was just eighteen, a Hamlet age if there ever was one.

I looked across the parking lot again at Shed B, thinking about what was inside. Not that any of us really knew.

Copyright © 2002 by Stephen King.