'Salem's Lot Chapter 6: The Lot [II] Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • There better be vampires in this chapter, or we're going to get cranky.
  • Well, we do get a short poetic section about fall coming to Jerusalem's Lot.
  • Forget fall. Shmoop wants vampires!
  • It's off to bury Danny Glick. Royal Snow and Mike Ryerson dug the grave; Royal Snow was upset because he'd had to take that box into the Marsten basement.
  • Father Callahan is doing the service.
  • Ryerson notices a headstone tipped over and… whose headstone do you think it is?
  • Right: it's Hubert Marsten's. Foreshadowing!
  • Callahan starts the service and, Tony Glick throws himself into the grave, because that's what always happens in the funerals on TV.
  • Vampires? Please?
  • Marjorie Glick faints… because her son is dead, not because there are any vampires, which still haven't shown up yet.
  • Ryerson comes back when everyone's gone to fill in the grave. Royal doesn't show up to help; Ryerson feels like someone's watching him.
  • Ryerson starts to dig and wants to get done before nightfall, but time seems to be slowing down. He imagines Danny's eyes are open in the coffin.
  • Ryerson's sort of in a trance, and as the dark comes on he finds himself jumping in the hole to shovel out the dirt so he can close Danny's eyes. He uses the spade to break the lock on the coffin, and when he opens it…
  • There's Danny, eyes open. A vampire at last!
  • Cut to Mark Petrie in his house listening at the grate to hear his parents talking about him. They're worried that he's upset about Danny Glick's death. He isn't, too much. He's a tough kid. (As we remember from him beating up the bully a bunch of pages back.)
  • Mark plays with his monster figurines. He knows about monsters, which is going to help him out.
  • Roy McDougall comes home to the sound of crying and figures out that his wife is hitting the baby. He is unhappy with his sordid, ugly life. Luckily for him, he'll be a vampire soon.
  • Parkins hears from the FBI. They tell him about Ben's wife dying.
  • The FBI also tells Parkins about Kurt Barlow, who is German, and Straker, who's British. No real other information. Parkins is cranky about it. If he were a vampire, he wouldn't worry.
  • Dud Rodgers out at the dump has an odd conversation with a guy who talks about how he loves wolves and hates dogs.
  • The guy hypnotizes Dud and tells him he can have Ruthie Crockett. Then he turns him into a vampire.
  • The guy is Barlow, of course. Finally up and about.
  • Cut to Father Callahan drinking. He is a drunken Irish priest having a crisis of faith. Wonderful.
  • Callahan thinks about how the evils of the town are small evils. He seems to want a big real solid evil… which of course he is going to get.