the last day of school (June 1958)

The last day of school in June 1958 at Derry Elementary School on Jackson Street signals the start of summer vacation for the children of Derry, Maine. The sound of the bell sends a spontaneous cheer through Ben Hanscom’s fifth-grade classroom, and even the strict Mrs. Douglas makes no effort to quell the excitement. As she calls students forward one by one to collect their report cards, the children burst out of the building and into the bright June sunshine, some on bikes, some skipping, some singing parodies of patriotic songs. For Ben, this day is both a liberation and a trial: he escapes the classroom only to be immediately targeted by Henry Bowers, Victor Criss, and Belch Huggins, who have been lying in wait for him. Henry, furious at being forced into summer school after Ben refused to let him copy during final exams, confronts Ben on Kansas Street, carving the letter “H” into his stomach with a Buck knife. Ben escapes by falling backward over the railing into the Barrens, a tangled wilderness that will become the Losers’ Club’s sanctuary. That same afternoon, Beverly Marsh speaks to Ben on the school steps, a brief, kind exchange that leaves him deeply moved and inspires him to write a haiku on a postcard for her later that day at the Derry Public Library. The day also sees the first meeting between Ben, Bill Denbrough, and Eddie Kaspbrak in the Barrens, where Bill and Eddie’s dam-building project has been destroyed by Henry and his gang. Ben helps Eddie with his asthma attack, and the three boys form the nucleus of what will become the Losers’ Club. The last day of school thus serves as the catalyst for the summer’s central conflicts: the escalating persecution by Henry Bowers, the formation of the Losers’ Club, and the beginning of their direct encounters with the supernatural horror lurking beneath Derry.