Premium Harmony

First published in 2009, “Premium Harmony” is a realist short story by American writer Stephen King. Though King secured his reputation in the horror genre, the story showcases his versatility, forgoing supernatural events to paint a picture of domestic dissatisfaction. In recounting the response of the protagonist, Ray, to the sudden death of his wife, “Premium Harmony” explores themes of The Absurdity of Death Intruding on the Mundane, Dark Humor as a Response to Grief, and Poverty and Small-Town Discontent.

This guide refers the edition of the story included in King’s collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, published by Scribner in 2015.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, animal death, racism, emotional abuse, suicidal ideation, addiction, substance use, and cursing.

“Premium Harmony” follows a single afternoon in the strained marriage of Ray and Mary Burkett, a working-class couple in Castle Rock, Maine, whose lives tilt abruptly from petty bickering to sudden loss. Ten years into their marriage, Ray observes that their arguments have become circular, like “greyhounds chasing the mechanical rabbit” (53). They circle around the same fights about money, habits, and disappointments without resolution. Ray and Mary never had children—medical tests said that the “problem” was on Mary’s side—and in that absence, Mary doted on Biznezz, a Jack Russell terrier that Ray bought her years earlier. 

On this day, they drive toward Wal-Mart to buy grass seed before selling their house, a plan that Mary insists is necessary to avoid bankruptcy. However, Ray doubts the seed will grow in a drought. Their running quarrel extends to Ray’s smoking and Mary’s secret stash of snack cakes. 

Mary asks Ray to stop at the Quik-Pik convenience store first so that she can buy a purple kickball for Tallie, her young niece. Purple is Tallie’s favorite color, and Mary does not want to risk Wal-Mart not having it. The tension mounts when Ray says he wants cigarettes but Mary refuses to enable his habit. Feeling “a great weight pressing down on his head” (54), Ray retaliates by needling Mary about her weight and the Little Debbies he found hidden in the cupboard. She criticizes him for “snooping.” He parks close to the cinder-block wall, and Mary has to sidle out of the car. The heat is brutal, the air conditioning is weak, and Biznezz is panting in the back seat, fixated—as always—on Mary. Ray stays behind, irritated, and rummages in the glove compartment for a forgotten pack of cigarettes before finding a petrified Hostess Sno Ball, which he tosses to Biznezz. The dog wolfs it down, coconut flakes scattering across the seat. Time drags; Ray waits and stews. 

A store employee in a blue smock jogs out, breathless, to tell Ray that Mary has collapsed inside. He locks the car and follows her to find Mary on the linoleum floor beside a wire rack of kickballs under a “HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME” sign (57). Mr. Ghosh, the store manager, and a few customers stand around her. Mr. Ghosh has already tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation; he fears that she has had a heart attack. Ray kneels, calls her name, listens for breath, and hears only the air conditioning. Teenagers outside press their faces to the glass; one is snapping pictures with a phone. Ray resents their attention, yet he cannot stop watching his wife’s still form as the minutes drag out. 

Two emergency medical technicians (EMTs) arrive in a white Suburban with orange stripes, oxygen tank rattling on a dolly. Their quick exam yields no pulse, no blood pressure, and no reaction to light. They ask Ray questions from a clipboard, including Mary’s age; he finally remembers that she is 34. With practiced efficiency, they pull up the sheet over her face, transforming Mary into a “movie” corpse. They wheel her into the heat, bound for St. Stephen’s Hospital. People stare and then drift away; Mr. Ghosh takes turns shooing the onlookers and comforting his tearful clerk. In the aftermath, he gives Ray the purple kickball for free, and Ray—feeling half grateful, half dazed—accepts it solemnly. 

In the store’s cool hush, the remaining circle of people share sodas and a bag of Bugles that a woman has bought and opened. Ray, unmoored, fills the space with scraps of remembrance: He tells them that Mary once made a quilt that took third prize at the county fair. The others share stories of their own. An old man describes how, after 37 years of being together, his wife “went in her sleep” while lying on the sofa (61). The clerk is still haunted by the shock of seeing someone die so suddenly. Ray’s thoughts wander to odd, uncharitable places. He imagines that the clerk has built a sympathetic story about him that might lead to a mercy fling; he also wonders whether Mr. Ghosh and the clerk are sleeping together. His inner monologue veers between self-pity, petty score settling, and the awareness that people are suddenly treating him like “someone special” because he is newly bereaved. 

Only after nearly two hours does Ray remember Biznezz. He steps into the parking lot and opens the car. The steering wheel scalds his hand; the interior feels like an oven. Biznezz lies on his back, with his tongue lolling and eyes milky. The dog is dead, coconut flecks still stuck in his whiskers from the Sno Ball. As “great sadness and amusement” sweep over him (62), Ray is struck by how the saddest things can also be funny yet not funny enough to laugh at. Biznezz is with Mary now, he tells himself, and breaks down. Through tears, he feels that his voice finally sounds “just right for the situation” (62). Ray assures himself that, with Mary gone, he can smoke as much as he likes. With the purple kickball under his arm, still crying, he returns to the store and asks Mr. Ghosh for a pack of Premium Harmony cigarettes, the cheapest brand. These are not on the house. Ray smokes while driving to the hospital “with the windows shut and Biz in the backseat and the air-conditioning on high” (63).