How It All Goes Down
The Grand Tour
- Wendy wants to know what Danny and Halloran were talking about. His "shrug" reminds her so much of Jack.
- She realizes she's a little "jealous" (12.4) of Jack and Danny's relationship.
- Ullman calls Jack, and the family goes to him.
- The employees look really happy, excited to be leaving the Overlook for winter vacation.
- It's getting very quiet at the Overlook.
- Ullman insists on giving the Torrances a tour, starting with the third floor.
- They all get on the ancient elevator together. Danny looks worried.
- Wendy imagines them getting trapped in the elevator for a long time and having to resort to cannibalism. She thinks of the Donner party.
- Ullman brings the elevator to a stop. Everybody notices that there's a gap between the floor of the elevator floor and the floor of the third story. Wendy definitely isn't using the elevator this winter, and "under no conditions would she allow the three of them to get into the rickety thing together" (12.28).
- Danny is staring at the carpet. Jack asks him if he's found "any spots there" (12.29). This irritates Ullman who insists the thick, blue, jungle print carpet has recently been cleaned. The carpet is pretty, but not really Wendy's style. The wallpaper is blue silk.
- They go into the presidential suite, which has a huge window that offers a stunning view of the mountains. Jack and Wendy don't notice that Danny is "staring […] at the red-and-white-striped silk wallpaper to the left" (12.38). He sees, "Great splashes of dried blood, flecked with tiny bits of grayish-white tissue" (12.39) on the wallpaper.
- Danny doesn't feel so well. He remembers Halloran telling him to just look away if he sees anything weird. So, he looks out the window. When he looks at the wall again, it's clean.
- When they leave the room, Danny gives the wall a backward glance. He sees that that the bloodstain is back, but no longer dried. Now it's oozing. He wants to scream, but he doesn't want to worry his parents.
- Ullman continues the tour of the third floor, dropping names of famous people.
- Nothing bad happens in any of the rooms, but there's a really creepy old-fashioned fire extinguisher that worries him a little.
- Now they go to the second floor.
- Ullman rushes them past room 217. Danny stares at the number.
- Now Ullman takes them to the first floor and shows them where they'll be living. It's the same apartment Dick Halloran uses during the season.
- When Jack tells Ullman that he and Wendy can push the twin beds together, Ullman gets flustered and red in the face.
- Danny has his own room, with bunk beds and an embroidered, desert-scene rug. He loves the rug and asks Ullman why he doesn't carpet the whole Overlook that way.
- Now they go down to the boiler room.
- Ullman isn't happy to see that Watson's still here. Watson wants to personally remind Jack to check the boiler at regular intervals, to be very careful not to let the pressure get up too high.
- Watson thinks Jack can handle it. He has pleasant words for Wendy, and tells Danny to take good care of his parents.
- They walk Watson out, and Danny is stuck by extreme loneliness, just for a second.