Larry Durkin
Larry Durkin, the proprietor of Durkin's Conoco station in Sidewinder, Colorado, plays a brief but pivotal role in the climax of the Overlook Hotel's tragedy. As the town's local mechanic and snowmobile rental agent, he becomes the final link between the isolated Torrance family and the outside world, providing Dick Hallorann with the means to reach them during the worst blizzard in years. His practical assistance, grounded in a deep local knowledge of the mountains and the hotel's dark reputation, transforms Hallorann's desperate telepathic plea into a physical rescue attempt.
Identity and Local Standing
Durkin is a tall, skinny man with a morose face and a luxuriant mane of red hair. He runs the Conoco station located next to the Sidewinder library, a fixture in the small mountain town. His knowledge of the Overlook Hotel is extensive and wary; he knows it has a "smelly reputation" due to the murders that occurred there, the hoods who once ran it, and the cutthroat businessmen who followed. He is also aware that many of the hotel's chambermaids came from Sidewinder and saw things that never made the papers, because "money has a way of talking." This local understanding makes him deeply reluctant to help a stranger venture up to the hotel in a blizzard.
The Encounter with Hallorann
When Dick Hallorann arrives at the Conoco station late on the stormy evening of December 1st, desperate for a snowmobile to reach the Overlook, Durkin is initially resistant. He is just closing up for the day, bundled in an army-issue parka, and has no desire to do more business. He is even more reluctant to rent one of his two snowmobiles to a wild-eyed black man insisting on going up to the old hotel. However, Hallorann's mention of Howard Cottrell's name and the tag inside one of Cottrell's blue mittens changes everything. Durkin immediately thaws, unlocking the garage bay and saying, "Sent you here, did he? Good to know the old rip's got some sense left." The connection to Cottrell, a trusted local, vouches for Hallorann's character.
Providing the Means of Rescue
Despite his lingering skepticism about the nature of the trouble at the Overlook, Durkin acts decisively. He provides Hallorann with an ArcticCat snowmobile, filling its tank and adding a five-gallon gas can. He charges only twenty dollars, including the fuel. Recognizing that Hallorann's thin overcoat is inadequate for the mountain blizzard, Durkin insists on trading jackets, giving Hallorann his own fur-lined parka. He also provides a red and black ski mask to protect Hallorann's face from the numbing wind. Before Hallorann departs, Durkin offers him a rifle, a gesture that underscores his understanding that the danger at the Overlook may be more than just the weather. Hallorann declines, saying he doesn't think it would do any good.
Final Instructions and Significance
Durkin's final instructions are practical and urgent: "Stay on the road! Keep your eye on the guardrail posts and the signs and you'll be all right, I guess. If you get off the road, you're going to be dead. Understand?" He also gives Hallorann a destination for after the rescue, telling him to bring the boy to 16 Peach Lane, where his wife will have soup on. This offer of shelter and warmth, extended to a stranger in crisis, reveals Durkin's fundamental decency. His role is that of the enabler, the practical man who, despite his misgivings, provides the essential tool—the snowmobile—that allows the rescue to take place. Without Durkin's cooperation and his willingness to trust a stranger's word, Hallorann's journey would have ended before it began, and the Torrances would have been left to face the Overlook's final fury alone.
