The Shining Chapter 46 Summary

Wendy

• At noon, Wendy takes the knife and goes upstairs to make some lunch for her and Danny.
• She tells Danny that he should stay in their quarters.
• Before she leaves, she asks Danny if he knows where Jack is. Danny says he doesn't. Wendy wants to ask more but is afraid of making both of them even more scared.
• She thinks that, "Jack ha[s] lost his mind" (46.13).
• Around 8 am she and Danny had listened to Jack making all kinds of noise in the ballroom, and then some in the lobby, too. But he hasn't made a sound in over three hours.
• Wendy thinks that Jack's voice wasn't the only one she heard. She heard Jack talk loudly to someone named Grady – she thinks she's heard the name before, but can't quite place it.
• Jack had sounded drunk. She entertains the possibility that Jack is hallucinating drunkenness.
• The thought is unpleasant.
• Frightened, she checks out the ballroom. All is quiet and still.
• From the registration desk she looks out at the growing snow storm.
• She isn't sure what she'll do if Jack suddenly shows up. She grips her knife.
• In the kitchen, Wendy quickly begins cooking an omelet and heating tomato soup.
• Suddenly, she feels someone standing behind her.
• She spins around, wielding her knife but nobody's there.
• Wendy knows she needs to remain calm.
• As she's takes the food down to Danny, she thinks that she has a responsibility to take care of her son. She can't go on like this, sneaking and creeping. Jack could easily get in through any locked door in the Overlook, either with the passkey, or with a kick.
• She decides to check the dining room again and calls for Jack. She hears some kind of sound.
• Ahead in the Colorado Lounge, she spies Jack's cigarette lighter.
• She goes in and the smell of gin hits her hard, but there doesn't appear to be any alcohol in the place. She wonders where he could have gotten it.
• She hears him moaning now and calls his name again.
• Now, she's at the bar.
• There's Jack, behind it, passed out and super drunk.
• She goes behind the bar and tries to rouse him. He wakes up, and says her name.
• He grips her ankle and says, "Gotcha!" (46.63). She can smell the martinis on him.
• She says she wants to help him, and he squeezes her ankle harder.
• When she complains he says, "I'll hurt more than your ankle, you b****" (46.67).
• She's utterly shocked.
• He tells her she never really loved him, and that she wants to abandon the Overlook in order to finish him off. He says, "You're just like my mother, you milksop b****" (46.69).
• He accuses her and Danny of plotting against him.
• Wendy realizes that Jack is going to kill her and Danny, just like the other caretaker, Grady.
• That must be who she heard Jack talking to earlier.
• Jack is angry with her for poisoning Danny's mind about him, making Danny hate him.
• He says he's needs to teach her a lesson, and then he begins choking her.
• She could go for the knife, but it slips her mind. She tries to get Jack's hands off her throat.
• Suddenly, Danny is yelling at Jack to stop.
• He does, but just for a minute.
• Danny begins weeping.
• Wendy is getting weak.
• She grabs a wine bottle being used as a candle holder and hits Jack on the head with it.
• The glass breaks and Jack falls back.
• Wendy collects herself and then sees that Danny is near Jack, looking at him.
• He won't let her touch him.
• He says, in his scratchy, older voice, "Daddy hurt you…You hurt Daddy…[…]. Danny wants to go to sleep" (46.98).
• Trying to keep her cool Wendy tells Danny that it's not the 'real' Jack that tried to hurt her. She tells him that "the hotel has gotten into him" (46.103).
• Wendy thinks that the hotel might want Danny because he can shine. If the hotel is able to take in Danny's shine power it might be much, much more dangerous than it is now.
• Danny says it would be so nice if Jack was doing well.
• Wendy agrees and tells Danny to help her move Jack to the pantry until someone comes to the Overlook to take them all away. The pantry has food for him to eat, and it's not too cold.
• Reluctantly, Danny agrees.
• When they get to the pantry he feels like he's doing something wrong.
• Wendy unlocks the door.
• Jack seems on the verge of waking up, and Wendy quickly pulls him inside by his feet.
• Now he wakes up for real, and she hops over him; he almost grabs her.
• As soon as she gets outside, she yells to Danny to shut the door.
• He does it, just as Jack is about to get out.
• Somehow, Danny manages to slide the bolt into position.
• Jack starts yelling at Danny to open the door. He almost does it, but Wendy stops him.
• Threats issue from behind the door, and Danny doesn't look so good.
• He tells his mother that he knows it's not really Jack, it's the hotel.