Elevation

Chapter 1: Losing Weight CHAPTER 1 Losing Weight


Scott Carey knocked on the door of the Ellis condo unit, and Bob Ellis (everyone in Highland Acres still called him Doctor Bob, although he was five years retired) let him in. "Well, Scott, here you are. Ten on the dot. Now what can I do for you?"

Scott was a big man, six-feet-four in his stocking feet, with a bit of a belly growing in front. "I'm not sure. Probably nothing, but... I have a problem. I hope not a big one, but it might be."

"One you don't want to talk to your regular doctor about?" Ellis was seventy-four, with thinning silver hair and a small limp that didn't slow him down much on the tennis court. Which was where he and Scott had met, and become friends. Not close friends, maybe, but friends, sure enough.

"Oh, I went," Scott said, "and got a checkup. Which was overdue. Bloodwork, urine, prostate, the whole nine yards. Everything checked out. Cholesterol a little high, but still in the normal range. It was diabetes I was worried about. WebMD suggested that was the most likely."

Until he knew about the clothes, that was. The thing with the clothes wasn't on any website, medical or otherwise. It certainly had nothing to do with diabetes.

Ellis led him into the living room, where a big bay window overlooked the fourteenth green of the Castle Rock gated community where he and his wife now lived. Doctor Bob played the occasional round, but mostly stuck to tennis. It was Ellis's wife who enjoyed golf, and Scott suspected that was the reason they were living here, when they weren't spending winters in a similar sports-oriented development in Florida.

Ellis said, "If you're looking for Myra, she's at her Methodist Women's group. I think that's right, although it might be one of her town committees. Tomorrow she's off to Portland for a meeting of the New England Mycological Society. That woman hops around like a hen on a hot griddle. Take off your coat, sit down, and tell me what's

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

"Written in masterly King's signature translucent style and set in one of his trademark locales, this uncharacteristically glimmering fairy tale calls unabashedly for us to rise above our differences... succinct, magical, timely...charming yet edgy."
- Booklist, STARRED review

"[An] elegant whisper of a story...[Scott] finds a memorable-and quite beautiful, really-way to depart a town made all the better for his presence."
-Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

"In this surprisingly sweet and quietly melancholy short novel, King weaves an eerie, charming tale of the ways that strange circumstances can bring people together...King's tender story is perfect for any fan of small towns, magic, and the joys and challenges of doing the right thing."
-Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"Joyful, uplifting, and tinged with sadness."
-Entertainment Weekly

"There's a sweetness that feels like something new for King. It's heavy out there right now. Here's something that's not."
-Gilbert Cruz, The New York Times Book Review

"Delightful...What the slim volume lacks in weight, it makes up in pathos...As Carey's weight approaches zero and his center of gravity shifts, the book lifts off to an unforgettable and deeply moving conclusion."
-Susannah Cahalan, The New York Post

"A quick, satisfying read... the sign of a master simply elevating his own legendary game yet again."
-Brian Truitt, USA Today

"A slim book about an ordinary man in an extraordinary condition rising above hatred and learning to live with tact and dignity."
-Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"Stephen King still has the power to surprise his beloved 'constant readers.' [King is] a storyteller still at the top of his game. Elevation is a magical tale that entertains and manages to say a little something about the state of our culture in 2018."
-Rob Merrill, Associated Press

"This