The fight is broken up before it can turn serious and a smallish teacher, Mr Casey, manhandles Buddy into admitting he was carrying the knife. He later catches up with Arnie at school, ready to use a switchblade on him. Buddy is kicked out of Darnell's garage and vows revenge. Arnie quite surprisingly holds his own despite taking a beating but when the fight seems to turn in Arnie's favor, Will Darnell breaks it up, seemingly taking Buddy's side. In one incident, Repperton casually breaks one of Christine's headlights with a jack handle, prompting Arnie to start a fist fight. However, as he continues with the restoration job, Arnie is harassed by another of Darnell's customers, Buddy Repperton, who never misses a chance to torment Arnie. Also, Arnie's appearance improves in tandem with Christine's. No one has ever witnessed him performing more than minor repairs and routine maintenance on the car. The car is repaired haphazardly, and not all of the repairs seem to be done by Arnie. Dennis later grows more frightened of the car. Dennis is at first very concerned about these changes in his friend, and of Christine's changes. Despite running afoul of the garage's owner, the cantankerous, cigar-chomping Will Darnell, Arnie restores the automobile, works part-time for Darnell, stripping car parts in the auto graveyard out back, and becomes withdrawn, yet more confident and self-assured. Frightened, Dennis gets out of Christine, and decides that he does not like Arnie's new car.Īrnie brings Christine to Darnell's, a local do-it-yourself auto repair facility. While waiting for Arnie, Dennis decides to sit inside Christine, and as he does, he has a vision of the car and the surroundings as they were in 1957 when the car was new. Regina goes so far as to attempt to shift some of the responsibility to Dennis for not looking out for Arnie.Īrnie and Dennis return the following day, and LeBay invites Arnie into his house to sign the paperwork. Dennis finds Regina's reaction offputting since they raised Arnie to be a well-rounded, open-minded person, who is more mature than most teenagers his age. When Arnie returns home that night and tells his parents, Regina and Michael, that he used his own money to buy the car, Regina becomes instantly furious, acting as though Arnie isn't responsible enough to own a car, much less restore it. Unable to pay the full amount, he settles on a $25 deposit and agrees to return the next day with the balance. LeBay, an elderly gentleman in a truss, comes out onto the lawn, and offers the car to Arnie for $250. Arnie makes Dennis stop his car, and examines the car. While driving home from work, Dennis Guilder and Arnie Cunningham drive past Christine, a dilapidated 1958 red and white Plymouth Fury.

Christine stephen king novel