Stapleton International Airport
Stapleton International Airport in Denver is the pivotal logistical hub through which Dick Hallorann, the Overlook Hotel's former cook, must pass on his urgent mission to save Danny Torrance and his family from the malevolent forces of the snowbound hotel. The airport represents the fraught intersection of Hallorann's psychic compulsion—triggered by Danny's telepathic scream for help—and the harsh, indifferent realities of winter travel, where a single missed connection or bureaucratic delay can mean the difference between life and death.
Hallorann's Arrival and the Treacherous Landing
Hallorann's flight from Miami, TWA Flight 196, arrives at Stapleton on the morning of December 2 after a harrowing descent through a blinding snowstorm that has already dumped six inches on Denver, with another foot expected by nightfall. The plane's landing is violent, reuniting with the runway hard enough to knock magazines from racks and send plastic trays cascading from the galley, yet no one screams. The pilot's voice, though not completely steady, announces their arrival. Hallorann, seated next to a sharp-faced woman who had earlier dismissed a panicking passenger as a "ninny," is personally almost scared enough to "shit peachpits." The woman, who had been reading a book and drinking screwdrivers, closes her volume with a long sigh, declaring, "We live to fight another day, Mr. Hallorann." He replies grimly that they aren't done with this one yet.
The Urgent Rental and the Worsening Storm
Because he carries only a flight bag, Hallorann beats the crowd to the Hertz desk on the lower level. Outside the smoked glass windows, the snow falls steadily, driven by gusting winds that force pedestrians to struggle against it; one man loses his hat, which whirls away, and Hallorann thinks it will not come down until it reaches Arizona. A girl in Hertz yellow provides him with a silver and black Buick Electra, chosen for its weight on winding mountain roads rather than style. She informs him that this is the worst storm since 1969 and asks if he has far to drive. When he replies "farther than I'd like," she phones ahead to a Texaco station at the Route 270 junction to arrange for chains. Hallorann thanks her, and as he leaves the desk, he sees the sharp-faced woman standing on a luggage queue, still reading. He winks at her; she looks up, smiles, and gives him a peace sign. He mentally wishes her well, sensing a small "shine" in her, and feels her wish him the same in return.
The Delayed Departure and the Missed Flight
Before reaching Stapleton, Hallorann had already been delayed. After receiving Danny's psychic call while driving near Miami, he had rushed to the airport, only to be pulled over by a Florida state trooper just as the airport came into sight. The officer, flipping through his citation book, cynically anticipates the usual excuses—a funeral, a wedding, a fire—and forces Hallorann to submit to a breathalyzer test. The delay causes him to miss the 6:36 PM United flight to Denver. Standing at the United desk at 6:49 PM, he sees the departure monitor confirm that Flight 901 left nine minutes earlier. He utters "Oh shit" just as the smell of oranges—his personal psychic trigger—overwhelms him again, and he barely reaches the men's room before another deafening, terrified mental call from Danny slams into his head.
The Overnight Vigil and the Final Boarding
Forced to spend the night at the airport, Hallorann goes from counter to counter—United, American, TWA, Continental, Braniff—haunting the ticket clerks. Sometime after midnight, drinking his eighth or ninth cup of coffee in the canteen, he decides he has been foolish to take the entire burden on himself. He calls the emergency number of the Rocky Mountain National Park Authority, speaking to a ranger named Tom Staunton. Hallorann gives a false name and reports trouble at the Overlook, warning that the caretaker might hurt his wife and son. Staunton, skeptical, notes that Hallorann is not calling from Colorado and therefore cannot be in CB range of the hotel; he concludes Hallorann must be a crank. Hallorann, in despair, urges him to call the hotel on the CB, but Staunton reveals he already tried and got no answer. He explains that every other ranger and volunteer is risking their lives rescuing three stranded climbers on King's Ram, and that by daybreak neither helicopter will be able to fly due to the worsening snow. Hallorann hangs up, understanding that the climbers are not the only ones stuck high up because they didn't know what they were getting into.
The Final Leg and the Psychic Assault
The next morning, at 6:45 AM EST, Hallorann's TWA flight is called. The boarding clerk holds him at Gate 31 until the last call at 6:55, waiting for a no-show passenger named Carlton Vecker. When Vecker fails to appear, Hallorann receives a blue first-class boarding pass and hurries up the enclosed ramp. He buckles his seat belt, wrapping his large black hands around the armrests, and silently promises that it would take Vecker and five strong flight attendants to drag him out. The plane is delayed another fifteen minutes while the ground crew rechecks a cargo door latch, prompting Hallorann to mutter "Shit for brains." Once airborne, at 7:31 AM, the thought-pistol goes off in his head again: Danny's desperate call, "DICK PLEASE COME QUICK WE'RE IN BAD TROUBLE," is suddenly chopped off cleanly, as if with a knife. Hallorann's hands go almost white on the armrests, and he is certain something bad has happened to the boy. The sharp-faced woman beside him asks if he always reacts so violently to takeoffs; he lies about a steel plate in his head from Korea. She launches into a political diatribe about the CIA and dollar diplomacy, but Hallorann, watching the receding land, only wonders if the boy is all right, hoping to God his folks are watching out for him.
