Blog-o-ween 2026: Playin' Chicken with Stephen King's Christine — Day 31

Epilogue

We are back in the present day, 1983. Dennis has finished his tale of what happened to his best friend Arnie Cunningham. But Dennis’s story is not quite done.

Nor is Christine’s.

Five days after the battle with Christine in Darnell’s garage, they buried the Cunninghams in a family plot. At the service, Rick Mercer tells Dennis that he had some men dump Christine into the crusher behind Darnell’s. One of the men received a bad cut. The man said that the car bit him.

And Leigh? Dennis and she did not live happily ever after. They gave it a go for two years, but found that Arnie (and Christine and Roland D. LeBay) were still between them. It was impossible for them to continue. Leigh left college and moved to Taos, New Mexico, with her husband. Dennis finished college and teaches junior high history. His memories of Arnie are still there, but fading a little each year.

What haven’t faded are the dreams. In his dreams, Christine and Roland D. LeBay are still there, still angry, still hungry.

One more thing… a stray newspaper item that made it onto the Associated Press wire. It seems that out in California, a young man was killed at a drive-in theater he worked at. Some maniac drove his car right through the snack bar after the theater had closed for the night. The young man’s name? Sandor Galton. Perhaps called “Sandy” for short.

Dennis imagines Sandy Galton’s death in California leading to LeBay’s sister in Colorado leading to Leigh in New Mexico leading to George LeBay in Ohio leading back to Dennis.

Christine and LeBay…

Their single-minded purpose…

Their unending fury…

Whelp… we done did it, Blog-o-weeners. We finished Christine by Stephen King. What did yinz think? Personally, I think it’s a pretty good story. Maybe a bit over long — especially that middle section — but overall it works for me.

Maybe I’m just an easy touch? That could be. I always try to approach a book or movie or whatever with an open mind and open heart. I mean… sure… the wonky geography of the book and Dennis and Arnie’s insane love of the Philadelphia Phillies made me madder than a wet hen, but I’m willing to forego any beef I may have with our beloved author because I really dig this epilogue.

I love that since Christine (the car) is a revenant from the 1950s, Christine (the novel) ends on a note similar to a monster movie from the same time period. Think: The Blob being airlifted to the Arctic and the words “The End” morphing into a big, fat question mark. That’s what we have here.

I also like that what causes Dennis to think that Christine has returned from the dead is a newspaper article he just happened to read. You know how I feel about other media showing up in novels and short stories.

In fact, I would have been even happier if the entire article was printed in the book as is. Kind of like the story of Momson, Vermont, in ‘Salem’s Lot. It would have been even more fun if it was a cover story of a tabloid newspaper that Dennis happens to see while in the grocery store checkout line.

One other touch that I quite like is the direction in which Dennis imagines Christine travels. Beginning with Sandy Galton’s murder in California (and Sandy getting flattened in a drive-in theater is another great nod to the monster movies of the 1950s), Christine would have to travel from west to east to reach Dennis. West to east — against the sun. In essence, Christine and LeBay would be traveling back in time to finish slaking the thirst of their shared vengeance.

One bummer about our ending, however, is the fate of Leigh Ackerman (née Cabot). Oh, I’m not talking about her and Dennis breaking up. (I can totally understand that.) I’m not disappointed in her for leaving college early to get married. (It happens. I guess.) I’m certainly not displeased about where she and her hubby end up living. (Taos, New Mexico, is a bee-yoo-tee-ful area of the United States. Lot of artists live there. Dennis Hopper lived there.)

(Maybe ol’ Dennis liked living in Taos a little too much, if you catch my drift.)

No, what burns my biscuits is that Leigh leaves college, gets married, and moves to Taos so she can sell Amway.

What now?

Founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos (yes… that DeVos), Amway (short for “American Way,” natch) is a multi-level marketing company (or MLM for short) that sells health, beauty, and home care products.

Amway has been investigated many times over the years in various countries for alleged fraudulent business practices. In India, in the early 2000s, Amway was identified as a pyramid scheme and its product offerings a masquerade. Some Amway distributor groups have been accused of using “cult-like” tactics to attract new distributors and keep them involved and committed. Allegations include resemblance to a Big Brother organization with a paranoid attitude toward insiders critical of the organization and seminars resembling religious revival meetings.

Naturally, all that hasn’t stopped the company from being a force in U.S. politics. (In fact, it’s probably helped.) Amway is a major contributor to the Republican Party and GOP candidates. (Of course, they are.)

C’mon, Leigh… you can do better! Why not just join The Church of the Sub-Genius, for cryin’ out loud?

Well, it looks like we are almost at the end of the road. It’s been thirty-one days since you took a chance and stuck out your thumb, hoping for a ride. Sure, we took the long way around, but sometimes its the journey and not the destination, amirite? I think we’ve had a pretty good time together. In fact, I had such a good time that I wanna leave you with a little something.

Earlier in our trip, I mentioned that newer editions of Christine did not include the snippets of rock’n roll song lyrics at the head of each chapter. I promised to make a list of all those songs that Stephen King used — and paid good money to use! So… here ya go!

Eddie Cochran - “Somethin' Else”

The Coasters - “Yakety Yak”

Charlie Ryan - “Hot Rod Lincoln”

Beach Boys - “This Car Of Mine”

Jand & Dean - “Surf City”

Glenn Frey - “Partytown”

Bo Diddley - “Road Runner”

Steve Miller Band - “Mercury Blues”

Moon Martin - “Cadillac Walk”

The Beatles - “Drive My Car”

Bruce Springsteen - “Cadillac Ranch”

The Modern Lovers - “Roadrunner”

Chuck Berry - “Maybelline”

Elvis Costello - “Less Than Zero”

Steely Dan - “Deacon Blues”

Beach Boys - “Little Deuce Coupe”

Chuck Berry - “My Mustang Ford”

Janis Joplin - “Mercedes Benz”

Beach Boys - “Shut Down"

Chuck Berry - “No Money Down”

Moon Martin - “She's In Love With My Car”

The Modern Lovers - “Roadrunner”

Chuck Berry - “No Particular Place To Go”

Woody Guthrie - “Riding In My Car”

Bruce Springsteen - “Racing In The Street”

Nervous Norvus - “Transfusion”

The Medallions - “Buick 59"

The Who - “Magic Bus”

Chuck Berry - “You Can't Catch Me”

Bo Diddley - “Who Do You Love"

Bruce Springsteen - “Racing In The Street”

Beach Boys - “409”

Bo Diddley - “Ride On, Josephine”

The Clash - “Brand New Cadillac”

ZZ Top - “Mexican Blackbird”

The Inmates - “I Can’t Sleep”

Howlin’ Wolf - “Ridin’ in the Moonlight”

Chuck Berry - “No Money Down”

Charlie Ryan - “Hot Rod Lincoln”

Beach Boys - “Custom Machine"

Bob Seger - “Mary Lou”

Bruce Springsteen - “Ramrod”

Bruce Springsteen - “Cadillac Ranch”

Bob Dylan - “From A Buick 6”

Beach Boys - “A Young Man Is Gone”

Mark Dinning - “Teen Angel”

Bruce Springsteen - “Wreck On The Highway”

The Doors - “Riders On The Storm"

Jan & Dean - “Dead Man's Curve”

J Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers - “Last Kiss”

Robert Creeley - “I Know A Man”

I am sure some enterprising soul out there has already created a playlist of these songs on some music app out there. Alas, I am not that enterprising soul. Instead, I am taking it upon myself to track down these songs in a more physical form — especially the Moon Martin tracks. I loved those songs!

One last story before I let you out on the sidewalk in front of your house. It’s a quickie, I promise, and one that you might get a kick out of. Have you ever heard the old one about the fellow who ran out of gas and hitched a ride with a mysterious driver who ended up being… a ghost!

Heh-heh-

Oh… you’ve heard that one before? What’s that? You have a story for me? It’s about a guy who picks up a mysterious hitchhiker late one night…

G-G-Gee… I-I-I never heard that one b-b-before. It’s pretty good. Wh-Wh-Where did you say you lived again? This is the address you gave me, but this is the local cemetery. That can’t be right, can it—

Say! Where did you get to? I didn’t even hear the door open and close.

Whelp… let’s just chalk this up to experience, shall we, Blog-o-weeners? You pick up enough hitchhikers, you’re bound to pick up a ghost every so often, amirite? That’s just plain old statistics. 

In the meantime, next time you’re driving the dark back roads around Libertyville and you see someone with their thumb out looking for a ride, maybe you’ll remember what happened here tonight. After all…

Oh, yes… one more thing…