"The Ledge" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the July 1976 issue of '' Penthouse'', and later collected in King's 1978 collection '' Night Shift''.

Plot summary

King employs a first person

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

and opens with the protagonist, Stan Norris, in the clutches of Cressner, a wealthy, cruel criminal overlord. Cressner intends to get revenge on Norris, who has been having an affair with his wife. Instead of killing him outright, Cressner reveals his penchant for striking

wager Wager can refer to: Gambling * Wager, the amount of a valuable staked when gambling on an event with an uncertain outcome, with the primary intent of winning money or material goods * Legal wager, required by both parties at the preliminary heari ...

s, and offers a chilling ultimatum: if Norris is able to circumambulate the 5-inch ledge surrounding the multi-story building where Cressner lives in his penthouse, he can have his wife and $20,000. If Norris refuses, he will be framed for heroin possession and never see his lover again. Cressner also reveals that he has done this to six others, three professional athletes who crossed his path and three ordinary people who got into serious debt with Cressner. Not once has Cressner lost the wager. Seemingly without any other choice, Norris accepts the wager and proceeds to make his way carefully around the building's cold, windswept exterior. Norris encounters multiple obstacles, particularly from the wind and an obstinate

pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. Norris completes the harrowing ordeal, only to discover that Cressner has already murdered his wife. Cressner slyly claims that he never welches on his bets and that, while the heroin has been removed from Norris' car and the money is his for the taking, his wife's fate was sealed before the wager was even made. Enraged, Norris overpowers Cressner's bodyguard and obtains his gun. When Cressner pleads for his life, Norris proposes to spare him but only if ''he'' is able to complete a trip around the ledge. However, while waiting for Cressner to circumnavigate the building, Norris reveals to the reader that: "Cressner said he's never welched on a bet. But I've been known to."

Publication

King wrote "The Ledge" as a homage to the 1956 story "Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" by

Jack Finney Walter Braden "Jack" Finney (born John Finney; October 2, 1911 – November 14, 1995) was an American writer. His best-known works are science fiction and thrillers, including '' The Body Snatchers'' and '' Time and Again''. The former was the ba ...

. It was first published in the July 1976 issue of '' Penthouse''. In 1978, "The Ledge" was collected in King's book of short stories '' Night Shift''. In 1988, "The Ledge" was included in the anthology work '' Pan Book of Horror Stories: Volume 29''.

Adaptations

"The Ledge" was dramatized as a section of the film '' Cat's Eye'', starring

Robert Hays Robert Hays (born July 24, 1947) is an American actor, known for a variety of television and film roles since the 1970s. He came to prominence around 1980, co-starring in the two-season domestic sitcom '' Angie'', and playing the central role of ...

as Norris and Kenneth McMillan as Cressner. Unlike the story, where Cressner leaves Norris mostly alone on the ledge, Cressner resorts to tricks, ranging from childish pranks using a toot horn to blasting the protagonist with a fire hose should he linger around a roomier sector of the ledge. One notable scene in the film version is when Cressner's bodyguard is killed and Cressner is overpowered; he is seen stumbling by an issue of ''Penthouse'', the magazine in which the story was first published. The film did give a decisive ending for Cressner, as the implied one from the story would not have been as satisfying to theatrical audiences. Norris did not need to welch on his bet, as a frightened Cressner is knocked off balance by the pigeon. He falls off the ledge and lands on the same toot horn he used to tease the protagonist. In 1982, an interlude or vignette entitled "Vertigo" outside the main continuity of the graphic novel ''

V for Vendetta ''V for Vendetta'' is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing serial in the British anthol ...

'' was published which used the same basic idea of a man being forced to traverse a narrow ledge around a tall building. ''V for Vendetta'' was being published serially in the U.K. comic anthology magazine ''

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...

'' at the time. The vignette was later republished in the eponymous 10-issue 1988

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

imprint (issue #7) and has been included in subsequent graphic novel compilations.

Reception

Tony Magistrate describes "The Ledge" as "King's descriptive abilities at their very best", noting King's "ability to maintain levels of suspense because the imaginary world he portrays is so accurately visual".

References

External links