Orrin Gets the Call

Orrin at the Rest Stop - - The Weight of the News Hangs Heavy

April 3, 1981

The payphone at the rest stop in Springfield was outside a Burger King.  Starving, having realized on the drive he hadn’t eaten since yesterday and with the adrenaline finally wearing off, Orrin orders a Whopper.  It was about 11:00 AM.  A bit early for a burger but, highway food leaves few options.

 Still overcast but no longer raining.

Hull sat in a booth to eat with his thoughts while scanning the room.  A few others, families with children, a couple of others . . . what one would expect.  Nevertheless, he couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched . . . though he dismissed the gnawing suspicion as nothing more than mere nerves after the jarring events of the last few days.

He dropped a quarter into the payphone on his way back through the parking lot, before intending to resume his trip south on 91 to New Haven after the call.

With that, the call ended but, stepping away from the payphone Orrin was momentarily startled, someone was standing at the adjacent phone . . . long raincoat and hood . . . couldn’t get a good look . . . was he there the whole time?

Getting back on the highway, Orrin felt a deep irritating unease . . . May 12th!?  Nearly an entire month . . . he’d be forced to be keeper of this infernal book and all the weighty trappings of being its caretaker for another whole month . . . and he couldn’t even talk to anyone about it . . . the stress and anxiety of it was already starting to wear him down . . . they didn’t even know the book had been damaged . . .

Meanwhile, back at the rest stop, a man in a long rain jacket and hood jotted down a date on a pocket pad “May 12th” just below where he had apparently already written Orrin’s license plate number . . . Hartwood put the pad back in his pocket and stepped away from the payphone . . . he might just have a buyer for this bell yet.