Here, John Rainbird begins the process of grooming Charlie, building trust with her, so that she will do what he wants her to do. The Shop wants Charlie to light fires, which she refuses to do. While at the Shop compound, Charlie is refused access to her father. He is tasked with bringing Charlie back to The Shop compound, which he does successfully. Rainbird is a Shop agent who takes a special interest in Charlie.

It is around this time that we are introduced to John Rainbird.

Even after this horrific incident, Irv stays committed to Andy and Charlie, helping them on their way while they move on to their next stop. During this incident, Charlie shows everybody what she can do, causing many casualties, and a burned-up farm. We learn that The Shop, an evil government agency, has murdered Andy’s wife, had kidnapped Charlie earlier, and is now in pursuit of Andy and Charlie to take them back so that they can run experiments on them. It is at his farm where Andy and Charlie get confronted by the The Shop for the first time since being on the run. He stood up for what was right, even as it caused him to be shot, and to have his farm burn to the ground. Irv saw that a wrong had been committed and did not take the easy way out. Without any promise of reward, he takes them back to his farm, to feed them and make sure that they are alright. An old farmer, he picks up Andy and Charlie while they were hitchhiking. One of my favorite King characters is Irv Manders. I thought about those questions a lot as I read this story.

What lengths do we go through as parents to ensure that our children are safe, cared for, and free from the stresses of this world. I instantly connected with Andy and his plight of being on the run, unjustly pursued due to no fault of his own. Reading Firestarter now, 38 years old, with a daughter about the same age as young Charlie McGee, gave me a lot of different feelings than when I read this book for the first time in college.

Stephen king firestarter novel