All That You Love Will Be Carried Away

Infobox short story |
name = All That You Love Will Be Carried Away
author = Stephen King
country = United States
language = English
genre = Short story
published_in = "The New Yorker" (1st release),
""
publisher =
media_type = Magazine (1st release)
pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"All That You Love Will Be Carried Away" is a short story by Stephen King that was originally published in the magazine "The New Yorker" and then collected in "".

Plot summary

Alfie Zimmer, a traveling salesman peddling bar code readers and instant dinners, pulls into a Motel 6 in Nebraska for the night. He settles in, and pulls out a revolver, ready to commit suicide because he "couldn’t go on living the way he had been living."

He has a wife, a daughter, and a hobby: recording strange bathroom graffiti which he discovered on his many long, lonely travels. He first started noting down scrawls on the walls that attracted his attention without any reason but then became "fascinated with those messages". Alfie has filled a whole notebook with such gems as "Save Russian Jews, collect valuable prizes" and "Mammon is the king of New Jersey."

In his solitary life of a traveling salesman with only miles and miles of the empty road for his companion those "voices on the walls" became his friends; something to think about during the long drive, something precious and important, something that "spoke" to him.

Alfie decides that "a shot in the mouth is easier than any living change", but every time he puts the gun in his mouth, he worries that leaving the notebook filled with bizarre ramblings behind will make him seem crazy to whomever finds his body. Alfie wants to write a book about the graffiti, even coming up with a great title, but knows "the telling would hurt." While standing in the freezing cold of the winter night, sobbing to himself, Alfie decides on a plan: if the lights of a farmhouse behind the motel reappear through the snow before he counts to 60, he will write the book. If not, Alfie will toss the notebook into the snow, then go inside and shoot himself.

The reader is left pondering what happens to Alfie, as he begins to count. The story closes with the man standing near the field outside the motel, ready to throw the book, but stubbornly clinging to it — as he is clinging to his own life.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

This story was made into six different Dollar Baby short films. The films were made by Scott Albanese, Brian Berkowitz, Mark Montalto, Chi Laughlin & Natalie Mooallem, James Renner and Anthony Kaneaster.

Notes

The line "Save Russian Jews! Collect Valuable Prizes!" appears in "It"

External links

* Scott Albanese's version - imdb title|id=0461007|title=All That You Love
* [http://www.allthatyoulove.com/ All That You Love - Film Website]
* James Renner's version - imdb title|id=0421579|title=All That You Love Will Be Carried Away
* [http://www.stephenkingshortmovies.com Stephen King Short Movies]
* [http://www.liljas-library.com/ The World of Stephen King]