The Breathing Method

Infobox short story |
name = The Breathing Method
author = Stephen King
country = United States
language = English
genre = Drama
published_in = "Different Seasons"
publisher = Viking Press
media_type = Anthology
pub_date = 1982
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Breathing Method" is a novella by Stephen King which was released as part of his "Different Seasons" collection in 1982. It is placed in the section entitled "A Winter's Tale".

ynopsis

David, the narrator of the frame tale, is a middle-aged Manhattan lawyer, who at the invitation of a senior partner joins a strange men's club where the members, in addition to reading, chatting and playing pool and chess, like to tell stories, some of which range into the bizarre and macabre. This club and its butler are also featured in King's short story "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands."

One Thursday before Christmas, the elderly physician Dr. Emlyn McCarron tells of an episode early in his long and varied career: the story of a patient of his who was determined to give birth to her illegitimate child, no matter what.

The patient masters a novel (for the 1930's) breathing method to help her with her eventual labor pains. On the way to the hospital, her taxi crashes and she is decapitated. Dr. McCarron arrives at the crash site and realizes the patient, using the breathing method, is still alive (her lungs in her headless torso somehow still pump air). He manages to deliver the baby.

On a sweet but haunting end note, the patient tells him "thank you" -- her decapitated head mouthing the words as they are distortedly spoken through the throat jutting from her headless body.

The child, a boy, is adopted, but despite the confidential nature of adoption records, McCarron is able to keep track of him over the years. When the man is in his late thirties, McCarron arranges for them to meet socially. "He had his mother's determination, gentlemen", he tells the club members, "and his mother's hazel eyes."

Filming

"The Breathing Method" is the only novella in "Different Seasons" for which no movie adaptation exists, as "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil", and "The Body" have all been filmed as "The Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil", and "Stand by Me", respectively.