Arnold Weathers' house¶
Arnold Weathers' house is a walled, chained-and-padlocked seaside house on the island across the bay in Marblehead, where the task force fights the infected Doberman Puddles and then finds and destroys Arnold himself.
| Type | Location (private house) |
| Aliases | Arnold's house; the chained house |
| Region | The island across the bay, Marblehead |
| Owner | Arnold Weathers |
| First appearance | Summer Service 03 (cold open) |
Description¶
In the cold open of Summer Service 03 the house is an ornate old building overlooking the sea, with a chained gate and a chained front door (Summer Service 03). In Summer Service 05 the team sees it for the first time as an estate behind an eight-foot privacy wall, with a padlocked gate hidden from the road. The decor is late 1970s, and the GM prices the house at roughly $700,000 to $800,000 "in 1992 money". The telephone still works (Summer Service 05).
Notable places within¶
- Courtyard and yard. Neglected. The mail pile goes back about a week, longer than the four days Madeline claims. There is an empty dog bowl but no dog.
- Entry and living room. Clumps of black hair around the entry; late-1970s furnishings; smears on the ceiling; a fresh, viscous "nest" on the couch.
- Kitchen and pantry. The kitchen is clean and abandoned. A lattice-doored pantry conceals the headless dog's body, which is burned here.
- Library. Closed; not entered.
- Upstairs hall and bathroom. A trail of dark, decomposed-smelling fluid leads to a tub of black liquid.
- Bedroom. Holds two near-identical sets of the town's financial books and a shoebox full of clear marbles.
History of events there¶
Summer Service 03¶
Jester carries a tray of food at night to the chained house, unlocks the gate, steps in and locks it behind him. At the front door he calls, "Arnold? Buddy, you feelin' any better? I brought you some food." A wet, drooling, dog-like growl answers and something thumps the door. He slides the tray through the mail slot; it is yanked inside, the growl turns to crazed barking and the door and chains bounce. This is the cold open (Summer Service 03).
Summer Service 05¶
Madeline, who says her uncle has been out of contact for four days, leads the team across the flooded bridge. Kurt picks the gate lock and the front-door padlock, and Madeline opens the door itself with her key. Inside:
- Puddles. Huell's flashlight reveals a bloated, hairless white Doberman streaming fluid, its collar cutting into its neck. A bullet through the forehead does nothing. It bites Huell and then Kurt. Andrew's void spray beheads it but also passes through Kurt's hand. The head stays alive; the headless body later stands up in the pantry and is burned. See Puddles.
- Arnold. Upstairs, Arnold lunges from the tub: bloated, hairless and soft, with broken handcuffs cut into his wrists. He is trying to flee, not to attack. Andrew body-blocks him and he ruptures into worms; Huell kicks off his jaw and a strip of face, then stomps his knee until the head comes off against the sink and the body collapses into worms. The team shuts the bathroom door; moaning continues behind it.
- Aftermath. Kurt phones the FBI from the house phone, Huell collects worms in an emptied rice jar and finds the ledgers and marbles, and Kurt tests the worms in the kitchen: vodka, heat and heavy salt kill them, and communion wine does not. Madeline recognises the dog's head as Puddles and learns that her uncle will not recover. The team leaves a pantry burned to charcoal (Summer Service 05).
See Arnold Weathers and The worms.
Inhabitants¶
Arnold Weathers, his Doberman Puddles, and until the end of the night whatever worms they carried. Madeline Weathers is his niece and lives elsewhere.