Herman Wouk Is Still Alive


"Herman Wouk Is Still Alive" is a short story by American author Stephen King. It was originally published in the May 2011 issue of The Atlantic magazine. The short story won the 2011 Best Short Fiction Bram Stoker Award.

Synopsis

Old friends Brenda and Jasmine, along with their seven children between them, set off on a road trip in a rented Chevy Express after Brenda wins $2,700 on the Pick-3 lottery. They reflect back on their harsh childhoods and disappointing lives. Meanwhile, Phil and Pauline, two aging poets and former lovers, are on their way to a poetry festival at the University of Maine. They stop at a rest area to have lunch together. Soon, Brenda decides that their lives are no longer worth living and that the children are doomed to a pitiful future. Deliberately and with the consent and encouragement of Jasmine, she crashes the van into a tree near Phil and Pauline at high speed. Phil and Pauline hurry to the wreckage, but Brenda and Jasmine and all their children are dead. When a passerby asks Pauline what happened, she finally loses her well-cultured disposition and asks him "What the fuck does it look like?"