The Ledge

Infobox short story |
name = The Ledge
author = Stephen King
country = United States
language = English
genre = Horror short story
published_in = Night Shift
publisher = Doubleday
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pub_date = 1978
preceded_by =
followed_by =

The Ledge is a short story by Stephen King, first published in 1978 in the compilation "Night Shift".

Plot summary

King employs a first person narrator and opens with the protagonist (named "Norris") in the clutches of a wealthy, cruel criminal overlord ("Cressner") intent on exacting revenge on Norris, who has been having an affair with his wife. Instead of killing him outright, Cressner reveals his penchant for striking wagers, and offers a chilling ultimatum: if Norris is able to circumnavigate the titular 5-inch ledge surrounding the multistory building which houses Cressner's penthouse, he can have Cressner's wife, along with a large sum of money, no strings attached. If he refuses to take the bet, he'll be framed for heroin possession and never see his lover again.

Seemingly without any other choice, Norris accepts the wager, and proceeds to carefully make his way around the building's cold, windswept exterior. Norris encounters multiple obstacles, including an obstinate pigeon. The narrator completes the harrowing ordeal, only to discover that Cressner had already murdered his unfaithful wife. Mad with rage, Norris overpowers Cressner and his bodyguard and takes the bodyguard's gun, and turns the tables on him, proposing to spare his life if only he is able to complete a trip around the ledge. However, as Cressner starts out, Norris reveals to the reader that he has been known to welch on bets...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

It was dramatized as a section of the film "Cat's Eye", starring Robert Hays and Kenneth McMillan. In the film version, the protagonist does not have to renege on the bet, as the pigeon attacks Cressner, who loses his balance and falls to his death.

Trivia

The Jack Finney story "Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets" contains a similar man-trapped-on-a-ledge situation.