A very ordinary man named Howard Mitla, who has a strange aptitude for Jeopardy!, is confronted by the bizarre sight of a human finger poking its way out of the drain in his apartment's bathroom sink. He tries to deny the reality of what is happening, but the solitary digit eventually proves to be infinitely long and multijointed, capable of attacking him, and smart enough to hide whenever his wife, Violet, goes to the bathroom. Eventually, while Violet is at work, Howard burns it with a bottle of heavy-duty drain cleaner, then chops it to bits with a pair of electric hedge trimmers before dropping the pieces in the toilet. After this is done, Howard starts thinking about the creature and the hand to which it was attached. As he realizes it probably has multiple digits and that there are several openings in an average bathroom, an ominous sound is heard from the toilet.
Investigating reports of noise coming from Howard's apartment, a police officer arrives to find him lying in a daze next to the toilet in a bathroom covered with blood. A police officer asks where the body is and he cryptically tells them, "If you have to go to the bathroom, I definitely suggest you hold it." Just then, the toilet lid starts to shake from the inside. The story ends with the officer deciding to lift the lid to "wager it all" after Howard, in a shocked daze, laughs and asks, "Final Jeopardy. How much do you wish to wager?"
Adaptationedit
This story was adapted into the 1991 series finale of the TV series Monsters. It starred Tom Noonan.[1]
Gilbert Cruz ranked The Moving Finger at number twenty-four out of twenty-seven in a list of King television adaptations. Cruz said that the internal monologue of King's characters does not translate well to television.[2]
moving, finger, short, story, other, uses, moving, finger, disambiguation, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, so. For other uses see The Moving Finger disambiguation This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources The Moving Finger short story news newspapers books scholar JSTOR November 2013 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Moving Finger is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King It was first published in December 1990 in The Magazine of Fantasy amp Science Fiction and three years later in 1993 was included in King s collection Nightmares amp Dreamscapes The Moving Finger Short story by Stephen KingCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenre s HorrorPublicationPublished inThe Magazine of Fantasy amp Science Fiction 1st release Nightmares amp DreamscapesPublication typeMagazineMedia typePrintPublication date1990 Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Adaptation 3 References 4 See alsoPlot summary editA very ordinary man named Howard Mitla who has a strange aptitude for Jeopardy is confronted by the bizarre sight of a human finger poking its way out of the drain in his apartment s bathroom sink He tries to deny the reality of what is happening but the solitary digit eventually proves to be infinitely long and multijointed capable of attacking him and smart enough to hide whenever his wife Violet goes to the bathroom Eventually while Violet is at work Howard burns it with a bottle of heavy duty drain cleaner then chops it to bits with a pair of electric hedge trimmers before dropping the pieces in the toilet After this is done Howard starts thinking about the creature and the hand to which it was attached As he realizes it probably has multiple digits and that there are several openings in an average bathroom an ominous sound is heard from the toilet Investigating reports of noise coming from Howard s apartment a police officer arrives to find him lying in a daze next to the toilet in a bathroom covered with blood A police officer asks where the body is and he cryptically tells them If you have to go to the bathroom I definitely suggest you hold it Just then the toilet lid starts to shake from the inside The story ends with the officer deciding to lift the lid to wager it all after Howard in a shocked daze laughs and asks Final Jeopardy How much do you wish to wager Adaptation editThis story was adapted into the 1991 series finale of the TV series Monsters It starred Tom Noonan 1 Gilbert Cruz ranked The Moving Finger at number twenty four out of twenty seven in a list of King television adaptations Cruz said that the internal monologue of King s characters does not translate well to television 2 References edit Muir John Kenneth 2001 Terror Television American Series 1970 1999 McFarland ISBN 9781476604169 Cruz Gilbert 2013 07 01 All of Stephen King s TV Work Ranked Vulture com Retrieved 2013 12 02 See also editStephen King short fiction bibliography nbsp This article about a horror short story or stories published in the 1990s is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Moving Finger short story amp oldid 1169777863, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
