The Night My Mother Saved Me from Danny Glick

I read Stephen King’s second novel, ‘Salem’s Lot, last week, and I was reminded of one of my favorite stories that my mother likes to tell. She has told me the story a bunch of times, but I still love to hear it. Even after all these years, she says the memory of that night is still very vivid. I asked her for permission to tell the story here on the blog, and when she agreed I asked her if she’d like to tell the story in her own words. She was happy to do that for me, and so I present to you my mother’s story of her experience with ‘Salem’s Lot. Thank you, Mama!

It was a dark and stormy night…

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I don’t remember whether it was 1976 or 1977 when I read my first Stephen King novel, ‘Salem’s Lot. I was 25 or 26 years old, and I had had a sort of morbid fascination with vampires since seeing a Dracula movie as a young girl.

My most vivid memory of reading ‘Salem’s Lot is what occurred during a very windy, rainy night after I had put our baby daughter, Heather, to bed. My husband was working nights at that time, and I was alone downstairs in a corner chair in our living room. The winds outside were steadily increasing in strength, and the 1 1/2″ double front doors on our old house were making ominous creaking sounds. Just when I reached the part where the boy vampire, Danny Glick, is hovering outside the second-story window in King’s book, the front doors actually BLEW open!

The large double doors that blew open, in turn blowing open two other doors that lead from the hallway into the house. Spooky!

The strength of the gust also blew open the hall doors that opened into our living room–where I was sitting–and into the dining room. After sitting frozen for a few seconds, I got shakily to my feet and went to close the double doors. It sounds rather silly to me at this point in my life, but I remember expecting to see someone–or something–standing on the porch as I closed the doors.

I was much too shaken to continue reading, so I went upstairs to bed. I took Heather from her crib and put her in bed with me. I thought I would be better able to protect her if I held her close. Truth is, though, that her warm little body next to mine made ME feel safe!

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And that is the story of how my mother saved me herself from Danny Glick. I don’t know about you, but I definitely would have been scared out of my wits! It’s a good thing she hadn’t gotten to the part in the story where baby Randy becomes a vampire. Heh.

My review of ‘Salem’s Lot will be posted tomorrow…