Stephen King writes about marriage and death in 'Premium Harmony'

Stephen King writes about marriage and death in "Premium Harmony."

Every week, The New Yorker publishes a work of short fiction, a rare luxury these days. On the November 09 issue, the story of choice was "Premium Harmony," by Stephen King.

In "Premium Harmony," King explores the last moments of Mary and Ray's marriage, a couple whose relationship has deteriorated as the years have passed. As he writes, "They’ve been married for ten years and for a long time everything was O.K.—swell—but now they argue."

She gives him a hard time because he smokes too much, and he gives her a hard time because she eats too much. They also fight about money, and the amount the fight is about gives the reader some insight into the characters' financial situation: "Sitting here in the sun, waiting for her to buy a purple plastic kickball for ninety-nine cents when he knows they could get one for seventy-nine cents at Wal-Mart."

Ray resents the niece the purple kickball is for, and he also resents the dog he bought for Mary when they found out she could not conceive. She named him Biznezz, and they call him Biz. Ray believes he is always looking at Mary, even when he is the one who is talking. And while they wait for Mary in the car, Ray talks to the dog. His words are an announcement of what is to come and a deviation from the most probable outcome at the same time: "Well, Biz, old buddy, it's just you and me."

A woman comes over to the car to tell Ray that Mary suddenly dropped to the floor and appears to have died at the Quik-Pik. He goes inside and, after confirming the death of his 35-year-old wife and seeing her be "stored" in the ambulance, he allows himself an hour of soda and bugles with the store manager, a clerk, and a customer, vefore he heads to the hospital to deal with her death. He has not really noticed Mary is gone, and two hours have passed since she went into the Quik-Pik looking for that kickball. That is when Ray remembers about Biz, who has been in the car ever since.

Stephen King's "Premium Harmony" takes a look at all that can be lost in marriage, and what it can mean for someone to suddenly, and unexpectedly, lose a spouse. He explores Ray's initial emotional numbness, what it takes for him to realize his loss, and how he also realizes, in the midst of tears and perhaps regret, that now he can smoke wherever he want without Mary nagging him about it. The story deals with a very real situations, and the characters in it are people we might feel we have seen at the store of our local gas station.

As usual, Stephen King takes us into a world we think we know and still manages to surprise us.