Stephen King – Batman and Robin have an Altercation

Stephen King has written a story called Batman and Robin have an Altercation making its debut in the politically driven issue of Harper’s Magazine September 2012 issue. This is Stephen King’s first story written for Harper’s. The story follows a middle-aged man named Sanderson who brings his Alzheimer’s-afflicted father to Applebee’s for their weekly lunch. For three years they have ordered the same food and had the same conversation. Just as Sanderson despairs of finding any shred of the man who raised him, he’s saved from a brutal assault to find his father wielding a weapon procured in a moment of lucidity. Catch a tidbit of it below. This is not about Batman and Robin or a comic, only the using the iconic names to show the dynamics of the two main characters.

Sanderson sees his father twice a week. On Wednesday evenings, after he closes the jewelry store his parents opened long ago, he drives the three miles to Crackerjack Manor and sees Pop there, usually in the common room. In his “suite,” if Pop is having a bad day. On most Sundays, Sanderson takes him out to lunch. The facility where Pop is living out his final foggy years is actually called the Harvest Hills Special Care Unit, but to Sanderson, Crackerjack Manor seems more accurate.