The Running Man
by Stephen King
Contents
…Minus 084 and COUNTING… With sour amusement Richards thought
Overview
Richards spends his last hours before the show drinking, reading, and confronting the emotional cost of leaving his family behind. The receipts confirm that his money reached Sheila and Charlie Grady, but Cathy’s baby photo turns his practical sacrifice into a painful reminder of what he may never see again.
The chapter deepens Richards’s bitterness toward the system and shows how anger, alcohol, and grim humor help him suppress grief before entering the deadly game.
Summary
Still confined in the guarded luxury suite before The Running Man begins, Ben Richards receives the books he requested. The selection seems absurdly literal and indifferent: three thick novels, including corporate success fiction that Richards quickly rejects with disgust.
Richards settles instead into God Is an Englishman, drinking heavily while he reads. By the time a discreet knock comes at the door, Richards is drunk and one bourbon bottle is empty.
The guard delivers the receipts Richards demanded for the money he sent out. Sheila sends no note, only a baby picture of Cathy, which nearly brings Richards to tears. Charlie Grady’s receipt is a crude insult written on a traffic ticket form, and Richards finds unexpected comfort in its familiar hostility.
Richards studies Cathy’s picture, remembering her as a newborn in a dress Sheila made, and fights back drunken grief. To avoid being overwhelmed, Richards focuses on Charlie’s message and challenges himself to finish the second bottle before passing out, nearly succeeding.
Who Appears
- Ben RichardsConfined contestant who drinks, reads, and struggles with grief over his family.
- Cathy RichardsRichards’s sick daughter, present through a baby photo that intensifies his sorrow.
- Sheila RichardsRichards’s wife, sends Cathy’s baby picture as confirmation of receiving money.
- Charlie GradyRichards’s acquaintance, sends a crude receipt that comforts Richards with familiar hostility.
- The guardDelivers Richards’s receipts to the guarded suite.
- The Games bellboyProvides Richards with thick books, prompting Richards’s sour amusement.