the moving finger

**wally wonder** · October 1st, 2009

this story is a hoot, as funny as it is creepy. 'have you ever thought about how many holes to the underworld there are in an ordinary bathroom?' howard mitla asks o'bannion, one of the bog-trotting irishmen. seven. a prime number. we must have aall come across an access hole that seemed more than suspect to us. i know i have.

nice description of vi mitla, con brio, she comes into the room 'like a pocket hurricane'. 'hang this up for me, will you?' she tells howard, tossing him her coat, 'i've got to pee. do i ever! whew!' you have to wonder why howard felt like he had to protect her from the finger.

and i like how sk does the other character thingy, this time w/howard, TAKING CARE OF THE OLD HOMESTEAD. while ole vi, the Shrinking Violet, is helping dr. stone pull some uppers. the finger wouldn't have stood a chance against vi.

**The Outsider** · October 1st, 2009

I love this story. Quite the oddity. I gotta say, I am quite curious as to how King came up with this. A finger coming out of the drain? This is one of my favorite short stories of all tme just cuz of the creature it involves.

**God** · October 12th, 2009

This story is great, N&D has some of Kings stranger stories in it for sure, like this, and Rainy Season and Chattery Teeth. For me the creepiest thing was how the finger seemed to hear Howard and respond to his voice

**aleth cantos** · October 15th, 2009

SK really got a hell of an imagination. this story is cool.. and creepy at the same time. salutes for SK.

**LisaNH** · October 18th, 2009

We just finished reading this story last week (hubby and I). Hubby didn't get it at all (he's new to SK- I've been reading SK since the mid-80's). LOL.

To me, this story had a sort of "Creep Show" feel to it. I loved it. I was concerned toward the end that they would actually find Vi in the tub rather than bits of the finger.

**doowopgirl** · October 19th, 2009

Oh yes I have always thought about how much we flush and rinse down various drains in our homes. When I was a kid the toilet witch was the way I couls get my brothers not to hog the bathroom!

**wally wonder** · October 19th, 2009

Originally Posted by doowopgirl

Oh yes I have always thought about how much we flush and rinse down various drains in our homes. When I was a kid the toilet witch was the way I couls get my brothers not to hog the bathroom!

with me it was willard. or one of the many others like him.

**DancingCorpse** · November 30th, 2009

I actually found some parts of this one absolutely hilarious. Howard's descent into madness is great, when he's going crazy in his flat and shouting random things at a moving finger coming out of his drain...

It shouldn't work but it does, even though much sense is never came to. I wonder if it was a relative of Pennywise, maybe it was him!

**wally wonder** · December 1st, 2009

it was a real hoot, the length of the thing! it just kept coming and coming. anyone remember the adam's family, that hand? was it called "it"? or "thing"? "it" i think, so yeah, pennywise might be in there somewhere.

**DancingCorpse** · December 2nd, 2009

Haha yeah, maybe 'Thing' was Howard's fear! Either way, it was a great story with such an odd idea. There was just something so 'real' about it, he's got a manic finger coming out of his drain, and for some reason, only he can see it. It begs the question, what would you do?