Christine

In a short break from the main story, the third-person omniscient narrator covers a range of developments: Coach Jones replaces Coach Puffer, Sandy leaves town, Leigh flunks a test for the first time, and Dennis can now walk with crutches.

The Libertyville basketball team loses their game on December 12. Afterward, Buddy, Richie, and Bobby Stanton (a freshman) drink and drive to Squantic Hill State Park. The park is closed for the winter, but Buddy knows a side entrance. Bobby tells a racist joke, but Buddy is anti-racist, so he snarls at Bobby.

Christine appears, and Buddy frantically tries to outmaneuver the car. Assuming that Arnie is driving Christine, Buddy screams “Cuntface!”—but no one is behind the wheel. Like a “bullet,” Christine smashes into Buddy’s Camaro, killing Bobby and Richie. Buddy loses an ear, but his seatbelt saves him. He jumps out of his car and runs, pleading with Christine to stop. Atop a snowy embankment, he sees LeBay’s corpse. LeBay calls him a “shitter,” and Buddy dies when his splintered rib punctures his heart.

After Arnie returns from a chess tournament in Philadelphia, Darnell wants him to go to Albany, New York, to get 14 clean used cars from a man named Henry Buck. Darnell recalls when LeBay made “runs” for him. Darnell is worth around $2 million but has emphysema, and he notices that Christine is gone. He asks Jimmy (who people don’t consider smart) about Christine. Jimmy says he just saw Christine leave the garage.

Darnell reviews the other “strange” things about Christine. He calls Arnie at his hotel in Philadelphia and gives him an errand to run there. Darnell recalls acting in a high school play and a girl he had a sexual relationship with. He falls asleep, but Christine arrives, waking him. The hood is warm, and Darnell can’t breathe. He runs to his office for his aspirator.

Leigh won’t speak to Arnie, and Arnie, back from the cheese tournament, quits the team. Mr. Slawson, the faculty advisor, has a measured reaction, so Arnie labels Mr. Slawson a “shitter.” He drives around and loses track of time. At Gino’s, Arnie calls Michael, who says Junkins spoke to him and Regina about Buddy, Richie, and Bobby’s deaths. Next, Arnie calls Leigh, who doesn’t want to be with Arnie if he has the car.

Arnie has a “crazed rant” against his mother, father, and Leigh. He then has a ghoulish vision of marrying his car. He believes that Christine loves him. He feels like they heal together but also “loathes” her. As he drives, LeBay appears in the passenger seat and morphs into Arnie at 50. The apparition repeatedly asks if Arnie sees something green. The ghoulish figure starts to rot and smell. Arnie screams. He admits that he injured his back after Buddy and his friends vandalized the car. The tow truck took it to Darnell’s, and Arnie pushed it outside until his back screamed for “mercy.”

Arnie realizes that transporting unlicensed cigarettes and alcohol is a felony and vows that this trip to Albany will be his last. On his way to Darnell’s, he eats the pizza from Gino’s but can’t account for one missing slice.

Junkins is at Darnell’s. Arnie reminds him that he was in Philadelphia when Buddy and the two boys died. Junkins says they found Autumn Red paint—Christine’s color—on Moochie’s skin and Buddy’s Camaro. Arnie says the color is popular. Frustrated, Junkins screams at Arnie and promises to find out what’s happening. Darnell thinks Junkins is a “smart cop” who knows the importance of “intuition.”

Junkins and another state detective, Rick Mercer, discuss the plan to bring down Darnell. After they do, Junkins wants lab technicians to methodically test the “spooky” Christine. First, police search the offices of Bill Upshaw, and then they enter Darnell’s garage and arrest him. Darnell claims that Mercer’s father, who died by suicide, was an extremely corrupt cop.

As Arnie drives into New York, cops pull him over and search his trunk. They find 200 cartons of Winston cigarettes and arrest him. Michael finds out about the arrest via telephone and remembers four-year-old Arnie riding a beloved tricycle.

The Cunningham family lawyer recommends another lawyer, Jim Warberg, and Regina compels Warberg to accept Arnie’s case. Arnie refuses to provide incriminating information about Darnell and doesn’t think he’ll receive a consequential sentence. Arnie’s main worry is Christine, and he dreams that Darnell controls a bite-size Christine. He hears Darnell tell him to stay quiet so that Christine can live. The authorities release Arnie on bail and extradite him to Pennsylvania. Disturbing dreams beset him.

Leigh’s parents walk to their neighbor’s house for Christmas Eve drinks. A winter storm is on the horizon, and Leigh, listening to the loud wind, thinks about Arnie and worries that Christine will harm her parents.

The snowstorm brings Pennsylvania to a standstill, but Christine leaves Darnell’s garage and goes to the 24-hour gas station, where Don reads a pornographic novel. He doesn’t like being alone anymore, so he called his unsympathetic father a few hours ago. Sometimes, Don sees Moochie, Buddy, and Richie. He believes that they shouldn’t have “trashed” Christine. Christine arrives, and a corpse—presumably, LeBay’s—tells Don to fill it up. When Don slips on the ice and falls, Christine runs him over.

Out on bail, Darnell sits in his living room and considers his situation. The police arrested Henry Buck, who’s cooperating, but Buck doesn’t know about the stolen cars, the guns, the “Colombians,” and the cocaine. Darnell admits that he’s afraid when leaving his garage. Outside his home, he hears Christine honk. The car crashes through piles of snow and into Darnell’s house. Desperate, he calls the police but drops the phone. He rushes upstairs. Feeling chest pain, he falls back down the stairs. Christine kills him, fixes herself, and returns to Darnell’s garage.