"Autopsy Room Four" - Stephen King

This twenty-six-page short story by the master of horror, Stephen King, was a thriller from start to finish.

The darkness in the room makes the protagonist think he is unconscious, yet he realizes he has a sense of movement and smells odors. Howard remembers the sound of hitting a golf club and seeing the ball fly off the tee until his thoughts are interrupted by people speaking. The squeaks of wheels fill his ears while he is moving. He hears them confirm, "Four." Howard thinks he is in a hospital room and wonders why he can't speak. His body is lifted and swung, but he can't tell them to be careful and not drop him. It is frightening to be inside his mind, hearing his confused thoughts.

As he feels his body swung around, he thinks, hey, don't drop me. I've got a bad back! (King's humor runs throughout the story.)

Unable to move his tongue, it lies on the floor of his mouth, and he worries he might choke if they lay him down incorrectly and it slides backward into his windpipe. He can't scream or move, even though he tries hard. What's going on here? What if I'm dead? Oh dear Jesus, let me not be dead! I'm breathing, though...aren't I?

Howard realizes he is in a body bag. He hears a harsh ripping sound and is immediately under a blinding white light. He tries to squint his eyes shut, but his 'eyelids are like blinds on broken rollers.'

Conversations ensue between the female medical examiner, Dr. Arlen, and the two males about how he looks like Michael Bolton, the singer; they sling jokes back and forth, asking Michael to sing for them. Howard recognizes the voice of one of the speakers, Dr. Jennings; he had played through the doctor's foursome on the eleventh hole. Howard is desperately trying to yell out no, it is not my heart; don't cut out my heart; my leg is the problem.

Nothing comes out of his lips.

Next, the conversation turns to pericardial cutting, and Howard remembers his Vietnam days of seeing field autopsies. He is in an autopsy room, and they are getting ready to cut his chest open - to slice and dice him and find his cause of death. But he's NOT DEAD!

He concentrates and does his best to make a sound, a Nnnnnn, out of his nostrils, but they don't hear him. (This portion had me laughing out loud; I guess I have a sick sense of humor, and you have to read it.)

Next, they mention perhaps playing Rolling Stones music, and he thinks, "Listen to me! Stop chattering like magpies, and listen to me!" They bet on whether he wears boxers or jockeys, and the female medical examiner unsnaps his Bermudas and pulls down the zipper. He tries to make them see his eyes while they comment on the color of his Jockeys. This dead, undead man tries to come alive and get their attention. King is at his finest here, SHOWING us everything, not telling us. As the reader, I was in Howard's body, consumed with his fear and inability to yell out that he is alive; he wants to say, please, please, please don't cut me open!

They flip him over 'like a big pancake,' and suddenly, he feels pain in his rectum as a body thermometer that feels like "a glass baseball bat" is inserted. The exam begins, and Pete comments on the excellent color of Howard's lips. He says, "94.2 degrees; gee, that ain't too shabby. This guy could almost be alive!"

Dr. Arlen responds, "Remember where they found him. Golf course? Summer afternoon? If you'd gotten a reading of 98.6, I would not be surprised."

They continue the outward exam of the body and find his 'Nam war wounds, wondering aloud about them.

"He was found in the rough. At a guess, he had a heart attack while he was looking for his ball," commented Dr. Arlen.

"There are mosquito bites on the left calf that look infected," Pete replied. All Howard wanted to do was play his eighteen holes of golf, and he ended up in a body bag in autopsy room four.

Pete officially states he is beginning the autopsy and again exclaims, "This guy could really still be alive!" Howard hums, but they don't hear it because Dr. Arlen drops something (they wouldn't have heard it anyway because Howard can't make any noise; he just desperately hopes to catch their attention).

Pete palpates Howard's belly and Howard burps. Pete is surprised and stares at the body while Howard desperately tries to hum again."Excuse yourself, Howie," Dr. Arlen says and chuckles. "Better watch out, Pete, those postmortem belches are the worst." Pete fans the air in front of his face theatrically and remarks on the scar on Howard's back. Howard thinks, "missed the big one, though, maybe because it's a little higher than you're looking. No big deal, my little Baywatch buddy, but you also missed the fact that I'M STILL ALIVE, and that IS a big deal!"

"Hold a mirror in front of my nose!" Howard is trying to scream at them. "Watch it fog up! Can't you at least do that?"

Throughout the short story, Howard's thoughts and inward conversations with the doctors are vivid and real; his attempts to alert them that he is alive make the reader cringe.

The ending in the autopsy room and the Afternote at the end of the story are surprises. I won't spoil it by including all the details. As I said, it is classic Stephen King, but more frightening because it could happen to anyone. Autopsy Room Four is not the usual made-up horror story with monsters or evil beings chasing you. It is the story of a guy who went golfing and ended up in Autopsy Room Four, a man who had been a medic in the Mekong Delta and knew about the scissors with sharp blades and fat finger-holes. King writes, 'He understood the "lower blade slides in the gut like butter.' " Howard was lying there, immobile, trying to make them know he was alive while they were readying the room to autopsy him!

King's note about this story tells of how, as a kid, he watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents (it was one of my favorite shows, too). He feels the scariest episode was with Joseph Cotten, a man injured in an auto accident. The doctors think he's dead; they can't find a heartbeat. King finishes his commentary by saying that he had once read a story with the word boomslang and liked it so much that he added it to this story.

Five-star short story! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#shortstory #horror #stephenking #review #stephenkingbooks #scary

Copyright © 6/27/2024 by Andrea O. Corwin

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