Carrie

Chris said chances were good that Tommy Ross and the White bitch would be the ones under the buckets; she had been doing a little quiet promoting among her friends That would be good, if it happened. But, for Billy, any of the others would be all right too.

He was beginning to think that it would be all right if it was Chris herself.

He drove away.

From My Name Is Susan Snell (p. 48):

Carrie went to see Tommy the day before the prom. She was waiting outside one of his classes and he said she looked really wretched, as if she thought he’d yell at her to stop hanging around and stop bugging him.

She said she had to be in by eleven-thirty at the latest, or her momma would be worried. She said she wasn’t going to spoil his time or anything, but it wouldn’t be fair to worry her momma.

Chapter Twelve

Tommy suggested they stop at the Kelly Fruit after and grab a root beer and a burger. All the other kids would be going to Westover or Lewiston, and they would have the place to themselves. Carrie’s face fit up, he said. She told him that would be fine. Just fine.

This is the girl they keep caning a monster. I want you to keep that firmly in mind. The girl who could be satisfied with a hamburger and a dime root beer after her only school dance so her momma wouldn’t be worried.. .

The first thing that struck Carrie when they walked in was Glamour. Not glamour but Glamour. Beautiful shadows rustled about in chiffon, lace, silk, satin. The air was redolent with the odour of flowers, the nose was constantly amazed by it. Girls in dresses with low backs, with scooped bodices showing actual cle**age, with Empire waists. Long skirts, pumps. Blinding white dinner jackets, cumberbunds, black shoes that had been spitshined.

A few people were on the dance floor, not many yet, and in the soft revolving gloom they were wraiths without substance. She did not really want to see them as her classmates. She wanted them to be beautiful strangers.

Tommy’s hand was firm on her elbow. ‘The mural’s nice,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ she agreed faintly.

It had taken on a soft nether light under the orange spots, the boatman leaning with eternal indolence against his tiller while the sunset blazed around him and the buildings conspired together over urban waters. She knew with suddenness and ease that this moment would be with her always, within hand’s reach of memory.

She doubted if they all sensed it – they had seen the world-but even George was silent for a minute as they looked, and the scone, the smell, even the sound of the

band playing a faintly recognizable movie theme, was locked forever in her, and she was at peace. Her soul knew a moment’s calm, as if it had been uncrumpled and smoothed under an iron.

‘V ‘George yelled suddenly, and led Frieda out on to the floor. He began to do a sarcastic jitterbug to the old-timey big-band music, and someone catcalled over to him. George blabbered, leered, and went into a brief arms-crossed Cossack routine that nearly landed him on his butt.

Carrie smiled. ‘George is funny,’ she said.

‘Sure he is. He’s a good guy. There are lots of good people around. Want to sit down?’

‘Yes,’ she said gratefully.

He went back to the door and returned with Norma Watson, whose hair had been pulled into a huge, teased explosion for the affair.

‘It’s on the other SIDE,’ she said, and her bright gerbel’s eyes picked Carrie up and down, looking for an exposed strap, an eruption of pimples, any news to carry back to the door when her errand was done. ‘That’s a LOVELY dress, Carrie. Where did you EVER get it?’

Carrie told her while Norma led them around the dance floor to their table. She exuded odours of Avon soap, Woolworth’s perfume, and Juicy Fruit gum.

There were two folding chairs at the table (looped and beribboned with the inevitable crepe paper), and the table itself was decked with crepe paper in the school colours. On top was a candle in a wine bottle, a dance programme, a tiny gilded pencil, and two party favours – gondolas filled with Planters Mixed Nuts.

‘I can’t get OVER it,’ Norma was saying. ‘You look so DIFFERENT.’ She cast an odd, furtive look at Carrie’s face and it made her feel nervous. ‘You’re positively GLOWING. What’s your SECRET?’

‘I’m Don MacLean’s secret lover,’ Carrie said. Tommy sniggered and quickly smothered it. Norma’s smile slipped a notch, and Carrie was amazed by her own wit and audacity. That’s what you looked like when the joke was on you. As though a bee had stung your rear end. Carrie found she liked Norma to look that way. It was distinctly unchristian.

‘Well, I have to get back,’ she said. ‘Isn’t it EXCITING, Tommy?’ Her smile was sympathetic: Wouldn’t it be exciting if-‘

‘Cold sweat is running down my thighs in rivers,’ Tommy said gravely.

Norma left with an odd, puzzled smile. It had not gone the way things were supposed to go. Everyone knew how things were supposed to go with Carrie. Tommy sniggered again.

‘Would you like to dance?’ he asked.

She didn’t know how, but wasn’t ready to admit to that yet. ‘Let’s just sit for a minute.’

While he held out her chair, she saw the candle and asked Tommy if he would light it. He did. Their eyes met over its flame. He reached out and took her hand. And the band played on.

From The Shadow Exploded (pp. 133-134):

Perhaps a complete study of Carrie’s mother will be undertaken someday, when the subject of Carrie herself becomes more academic. I myself might attempt it, if only to gain access to the Brigham, family tree. It might be extremely interesting to know what odd occurrences one might come across two or three generations back…

And there is, of course, the knowledge that Carrie went home on Prom Night. Why? It is hard to tell just how sane Carrie’s motives were by that time. She may have gone for absolution and forgiveness, or she may have gone for the express purpose of committing matricide. In any event, the physical evidence seems to indicate that Margaret White was waiting for her…