Summary

In “Lockbox,” the narrator describes the destruction of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado when its defective boiler burst. John Torrance, the off-season caretaker at the hotel, was reported to have died trying to release the pressure on the boiler. Wendy Torrance, John’s wife, and Richard “Dick” Hallorann, the cook at the Overlook, were badly injured in the explosion. Daniel “Danny” Torrance, son of the caretaker, was physically unhurt.

A couple of years later, in March of 1981, Wendy called Dick and asked him to pay a visit to her son because he had stopped talking. The narrator describes the experience that caused Danny to stop talking. Danny had woken because he had to pee. The wind blowing outside reminded him of the horrors at the Overlook. Danny sensed there was something terrible waiting for him in the bathroom before he even opened the...