The Roadside Vendor Who Inspired One of Stephen King's Most Unsettling Stories

Horror supremo Stephen King surely sits at the pinnacle of modern horror writing. Born in Portland, Maine, in September 1947, King sold his first short story, "The Glass Floor," in 1967, and has since carved out an astonishingly successful writing career, with numerous works translated into memorable movies, including Carrie, The Shining, Misery, and more recently The Mist and The Long Walk. An acknowledged master of the novel, King is also widely recognized as one of the leading short story and novella writers, with an innate knack for conjuring up a visceral sense of the macabre. Many of King's inspirations have come from real life locations or experiences, and this is the case with "Fair Extension," a novella published as part of his collection, "Full Dark, No Stars," in 2010.

THE PLOT

"Fair Extension" revisits a classic theme in supernatural literature – a human making a deal with the devil. The story's protagonist is Dave Streeter, a married family man who is sadly suffering from terminal lung cancer. Driving home one day, Streeter's curiosity is piqued by a roadside vendor near an airport. Street stops and talks to the man, who claims to be several hundred years old and offers Streeter a deal. The vendor says that he can extend Streeter's life in exchange for fifteen percent of his income, with the caveat that Streeter must also choose a victim for his misfortune to be transferred onto.

Streeter agrees and selects his fall guy, Tom Goodhugh, a man who has mistreated Streeter for years. As kids, Streeter undertook all of Goodhugh's homework, for which Goodhugh received excellent grades. In college, Goodhugh stole and married Streeter's girlfriend. Since then, Goodhugh has built up a highly profitable business. He has three 'perfect' children, a trophy wife, and lives a life of luxury. Following Streeter's deal with the mysterious vendor, his cancer subsides, he finds himself promoted several times, his marriage transforms for the better, and his children enjoy great success. In contrast, Goodhugh's wife dies of breast cancer, his business fails, and the fortunes of his offspring falter in terrible ways.

THE ROADSIDE VENDOR

We won't give away the ending, but we can reveal the inspiration for this story, as explained by King himself:

"In Bangor, where I live, a thoroughfare called the Hammond Street Extension skirts the airport…There's a gravel patch beside the airport fence about halfway along the Extension, and there any number of roadside vendors have set up shop over the years. My favorite is known locally as Golf Ball Guy, and he always appears in the spring. Golf Ball Guy goes up to the Bangor Municipal Golf Course when the weather turns warm and scavenges up hundreds of used golf balls that have been abandoned under the snow…One day when I spied him, the idea for Fair Extension came into my mind. Of course, I set it in Derry, home of the late and unlamented clown Pennywise, because Derry is just Bangor masquerading under a different name."

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