Jack remembers his dream about George and the bathtub. As he looks at the snowmobile, he remembers a newspaper article about a kid who was decapitated by a chain while snowmobiling at night. He fights the urge to destroy the snowmobile’s machinery with a mallet. He sees a snowmobile battery in the shed but ignores it. As Jack considers his options, he realizes that the hotel wants Danny, but it wants him as well. Not only that, but Jack may be the key—because he could kill Danny, even if the ghosts cannot—to the hotel being able to absorb Danny’s powers into its own: “He was the vulnerable one, the one who could be bent and twisted and snapped” (279). He returns to the hotel and tells Wendy they are not leaving.

The Torrances have a good Thanksgiving, although Danny is still afraid of the Overlook. He makes an extra effort to stay in places that feel safe. Jack says Rangers will come check on them when they fail to respond on the CB. Danny senses that Jack is gratified. He knows that his father is happy that he did something difficult yet correctly, although Danny does not know what his specific act was.