Everything's Eventual (short story)

Infobox short story |
name = Everything's Eventual
author = Stephen King
country = United States
language = English
series = Fantasy short story
genre =
published_in = ""
publication_type = Collection
publisher = Scribner
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pub_date = 2002
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Everything's Eventual" is the seventh story in Stephen King's "", a collection of short stories written by King and published in 2002. It first appeared in 2000 as part of the game "Stephen King's F13".cite web |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue146/cool.html|title=Cool Stuff: Stephen King's F13|date=2000-02-07|author=Tasha Robinson|work=Science Fiction Weekly]

Plot summary

The story is told in first person perspective by a 19-year-old high-school dropout Richard "Dinky" Earnshaw. Dinky fatuously explains that he's got a good job now. He used to be a clerk at the "Supr Savr," where he worked with morons and was relentlessly bullied by an aggressive dimwit named Skipper. But now Skipper's dead and Dinky's got a new job, where the main perks are that he gets his own house and his own car and virtually anything he asks for, including CDs that have not been released yet. He also gets a small wad of cash each week, provided he doesn't look for the people who drop it through his mail slot, and that he remembers to destroy or throw away any money left over at the end of the week. He gets rid of his excess change by dropping it down the gutter by his house, and he puts his bills in the garbage disposal, each week. In his usual down-to-earth style, King stretches the tiny details of this situation out to great length before finally settling down to the obvious and compelling questions: what exactly is this mysterious job, and what does a dead supermarket clerk have to do with it?

As it turns out, Dinky has a certain gift. He has the ability to kill people by drawing complicated designs or pictures, in a way that he does not completely understand. This is illustrated when he recalls that, as a child, he (semi-unknowingly) used this ability to kill a dog that used to torment him on his way home from school. After Skipper humiliated him every day for years, Dinky makes the decision to use this power to kill Skipper, or more accurately to make Skipper kill himself.

Dinky is discovered by a man named Mr. Sharpton, who claims to work for Trans Corporation, an organization that searches across the world for people with such talents. Dinky is recruited to kill very specific targets by e-mailing them these designs that he creates on an Apple computer. He is, in return, given a life that seems ideal, complete with a house and other benefits. Mr. Sharpton tells Dinky that the people he is ordered to kill are wicked, horrible criminals that the world is better off without.

For a time, Dinky is happy with his new position, living life in a semi-mindless bliss; however, when Dinky finds an article in the newspaper about one of the individuals whom he has killed (a seemingly innocent old newspaper columnist) he begins to feel guilty for what he has done. After researching more into his other victims, Dinky realizes that the Trans Corporation has been using him to assassinate political dissidents and alternative thinkers. As the story ends, he is planning his escape from the Trans Corporation, but not before sending one final deadly email to Mr. Sharpton, his recruiter.

Inspiration

King stated in the foreword for this short story, that he had gotten the idea for it after dreaming about a person pouring change into the storm drain.

Connections to King's other works

Dinky Earnshaw later appears in the Dark Tower series, and the Trans Corporation is revealed to be loyal to the Crimson King.

References