Short Story Graveyard: The Fifth Step

By Matthew McConkey

"The Fifth Step", published in Harper’s magazine in March of 2020, was eventually collected in King's collection, You Like It Darker, in 2024.

The story blew me away, simply put. Why? Because it harkened back to King’s earlier work. There was a certain, unexpected conclusion to the short that I literally never saw coming, and I had to re-read the last few paragraphs to make sure I had actually read what I thought I had.

This story, reminiscent of Stephen King's work, begins simply. You get an image in your mind of Harold Jamieson, a 68-year-old retired NYC Sanitation chief engineer who is just taking his life seemingly one day at a time in his advancing years. While sitting on his favorite bench in Central Park, reading a newspaper, a man sits down at the other end, much to Harold's annoyance.

This stranger strikes up a conversation with the old man and wants to pay him to listen to what he has to say. Harold waves off the money and listens to this stranger tell a story, his Fifth Step of Alcoholics Anonymous, which states that the person “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” This is where the story takes a turn, with the guy telling Harold about the misdeeds in his life.

From there, things get crazy fast…

This story reminded me of another King tale, "The Man Who Loved Flowers", from King’s first short story collection, Night Shift. You never see that story taking the turn it did there either.

The Fifth Step is a great step at-5/5

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