Gwendy's button box

Castle Rock, Maine, is a town with a history of odd happenings and strange arrivals, though this particular tale has stayed hidden until now. Twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson makes the same climb every day during the summer of 1974, using one of the three routes that lead up to Castle View. The Suicide Stairs zigzag up the cliffside, anchored by iron bolts that are sturdy but badly weathered.

When she reaches the top, Gwendy pauses to get her breath back. Below her, children shout on the playground, and farther off the ring of an aluminum bat echoes as the Senior League team prepares for the Labor Day charity game. One afternoon a stranger calls out to her, inviting her to sit and talk.

He waits on a shaded bench, dressed in black jeans and a black coat cut like a suit jacket, with a white shirt open at the collar. A small, tidy black hat sits on his head. Gwendy will later be haunted by nightmares about that hat.