My (accidental) Breakfast with Stephen King: A True Story

I'd like to think that rubbing shoulders with a famous writer stimulated me to begin writing. Before I started memoir writing in 2002 and before the year of his publication of his nonfiction treatise "On Writing" in 2000, my wife and I found ourselves sitting next to Stephen King at a little country store and restaurant in Lovell, Maine, near Kezar Lake, where he owned a cottage. The following is an excerpt from Chapter 20, Friends Like This, from my memoir "Taking a Walk" (2022).

"When I started reading books by Stephen King, I was impressed with his characterization of children and how their bonds were built on laughter and compassion for each other. Several years ago in Maine, my wife and I, by shear chance, sat at the same lunch counter right next to the man, a short time before his terrible accident as a pedestrian on a local highway. He was having breakfast and an orange soda, voraciously reading three newspapers at his side. He says in his recent non-fiction book, "On Writing", written after his accident, that you can't write if you don't read. We were having lunch. I kept silent during the meal, but as he got up to leave, we nodded, and I told him quietly that I enjoyed his work. He graciously thanked me. The people there all knew him. He was a frequent visitor to this local restaurant and country store. It made me feel good."

As he was paying his breakfast bill, a little old lady came up to him. Paraphrasing, she said, "Mr. King, I have a story for you. It's true - - - and it's a Mystery!"

Being a local, he obviously knew her. Graciously, he replied, "Gladys (I believe that was her name), Stop by anytime. I'd love to hear it."

The photo is me in my back brace June 21, 2022, still recuperating from spinal fusion surgery in March. I'm holding my copy of "On Writing" by Stephen King.