Hotel housekeeper Martha Rosewall shows her friend Darcy a novel published by her son Peter, which has a dedication that says he could not have done it without her help.
Martha eventually decides that this "natural father" is Peter Jefferies, a prejudiced writer who often visits the hotel where she works.
Martha consumes some of Jefferies' semen, which was left on his sheets, as part of what is implied to be a black magic spell orchestrated by Mama Delorme to pass on Jefferies' writing prowess to her unborn son.
She also shows Darcy the signatures and handwriting on her copies of both books, which are virtually identical.
King's notes at the end of Nightmares & Dreamscapes state that this story turned out to be a sort of trial for his later novel Dolores Claiborne, and that it was partly written to explore the idea of why famous and talented people can sometimes be horrible in real life.