Chapter 10: The Weight Of The Weary
For over a month after Otis Worthington's suicide in the Silver Dollar tavern, the town of Derry seemed to be in a stupefied state of shock. The citizens went through their daily lives and routines as habitually as worker ants go back and forth carrying food to the queen. The people were like zombies and went through their days as creatures of habit, with no emotional connection or attachment to their friends and neighbors, stripped of their zeal for life much as a deer is skinned before being prepared and eaten. Thomas heard only bits and pieces of what had happened at the Silver Dollar, but the little that he did hear made him certain that Pennywise was involved. And what truly frightened him the most was not just what had happened, but his unexplainable inner knowledge that the incident at the Silver Dollar was only part of the brutal act of violence that was set in motion by Pennywise. He spoke with Franklin about these things at school, and he was somewhat comforted to know that Franklin had been having the same feelings of insight, almost as if the boys were being made aware of things by an outside source, things that they would have no way of knowing otherwise. It felt to them like they were being protected by some unknown force and being led safely through the fire of Pennywise's evil ways. The boys were not without their own inner turmoil and mental scars however, as the sight of the evil monster in the shape of a clown and the growing realization of it's wicked ways became a burden for Thomas and Franklin.
It was a burden similar in weight to the one now carried by Constable Grenier as he tried to keep a strong and brave face in light of the sinister darkness that seemed to have taken hold of Derry. After Worthington's suicide, the Silver Dollar tavern was temporarily closed and John Markson and his mob of vigilantes had all but disappeared from the streets. But it still did nothing to ease the pain in Constable Grenier's heart, the pain he felt having to tell the aging widow Glorietta Worthington that her son was dead. Even his family life as a husband and father was affected, as his sadness dulled the joy he should have felt with his wife as they welcomed the birth of their first child, a baby boy they named David.
And likewise a heavy burden had settled on the heart of John Markson, a burden that made him feel as if he was being used for someone or something else's gain, much like a two-buck whore in a brothel bedroom. He could not recall what happened that night at the tavern, only that he went there to meet an associate for a drink around 7 pm, and the next thing he remembered was standing nude in his bedroom at 3 o'clock in the morning and staring at his sleeping wife while smoking a cigar. After that incident Markson became a recluse, rarely venturing out of his house for anything and all the while being convinced that he was somehow possessed by an unknown evil force that was surely eating his sanity.
The climax of everything that had occurred in Derry for the past year and a half was set in motion, and Thomas and Franklin knew that they, like everyone else in Derry, were nothing more than mere pawns in Pennywise's sadistic and cruel game of chess. But the two boys also knew somehow that there was a rival force to Pennywise that was at work in Derry, a force of light to combat the scourge of darkness. They did not know which one of the forces would overcome the other, but they knew the conclusion of all of this was approaching like an oncoming avalanche.
