the summer of 1992

The summer of 1992 is the season of crisis and first rupture in Ralph Roberts's life, a time when the ordinary world of a retired Derry man begins to crack open under the pressure of terminal illness, extreme weather, and the first visible signs of a neighbor's madness. It is the season that sets the novel's entire plot in motion, introducing the deathwatch, the heatwave, and the violent incident at the airport that will echo through the rest of the story.

The Season of Carolyn's Decline and the Deathwatch

Between March and June of 1992, Ralph Roberts lived through a 'jangling, screaming time' of medical conferences, emergency runs to the hospital, and desperate research in the Derry Public Library, as his wife Carolyn was diagnosed with a brain tumor. By the time summer arrived, the worst heatwave since 1971 had settled over central Maine, and Derry simmered in hazy sun and humidity with daily temperatures in the mid-nineties. It was in this hot silence that Ralph first heard the ticking of the deathwatch, understanding that Carolyn's slim chances had become no chances at all. The ticking seemed to come from everywhere—even from the walls—but it was loudest from within Carolyn herself, and Ralph could see in her calm, white face that she heard it too. He began taking increasingly long walks through the hot afternoons and twilit evenings, often returning trembling with exhaustion, partly because the ringing in his ears from the heat sometimes drowned out the sound of the deathwatch.

The First Sign of Ed Deepneau's Madness

It was on one of these walks, during the same oppressive July, that Ralph first became aware that something had gone very wrong with Ed Deepneau, his neighbor from up the street. Ralph had walked much farther than usual out the Harris Avenue Extension, past the airport, when he saw Ed's Datsun racing out of the General Aviation service entrance. The car screeched to a halt at the closed gate, and Ralph heard Ed screaming a stream of obscenities—'You son of a bitch fucker! You bastard! Eat my cock!'—a shocking contrast to the kind, civil young research chemist Ralph thought he knew. Ed then broadsided a blue Ford Ranger, leaped out of his car, and began slapping the heavyset driver, shouting, 'How many have you killed?' and accusing him of hauling dead babies under a tarp in his truck. Ralph intervened, physically restraining Ed, and was struck by the unnerving heat radiating from Ed's body and the utter, unreasoning fury in his eyes. The incident ended with Ed apologizing, but Ralph was left deeply uneasy, a feeling that would prove prophetic.

The Aftermath and the Onset of Insomnia

The summer of 1992 also saw the first seizure of Carolyn Roberts, which occurred on the same day as Ed's road rage incident. Ralph returned home from his walk to find Carolyn having a seizure, and she was rushed to Derry Home Hospital. Although she stabilized, the neurologist, Dr. Jamal, confirmed that the tumor was spreading and that further seizures were likely. Ralph spent the night beside her, listening to the ticking of the deathwatch, and began the long, painful process of making her last months comfortable. It was a long while before he thought of Ed Deepneau again, even after he began to see bruises on Helen Deepneau's face. The summer of 1992 thus closes with Ralph's world narrowed to the care of his dying wife, the ticking of the deathwatch, and the first, barely acknowledged seeds of the insomnia that would consume him after her death the following March.