Editing Stand by Me (film) (section)

==Plot==
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In 1985, writer Gordie Lachance reads a newspaper article about a fatal stabbing involving his childhood best friend, Chris Chambers. He recalls an incident from when he was 12 years old when he, Chris, and two other friends, Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio, went searching for the body of a missing boy named Ray Brower near the town of [[Castle Rock (Stephen King)#Film|Castle Rock, Oregon]], during [[Labor Day]] weekend in 1959. As a child, Gordie's parents largely ignored him as they grieved the death of their elder son, Denny. Unlike their parents, Denny had paid attention to Gordie.

Vern overhears his big brother, Billy, talking with his friend, Charlie, about finding the body. Billy does not want to inform police because it could draw attention to a car theft he and Charlie committed. When Vern tells his friends about the body, the four boys—hoping to become local heroes—decide to look for it. After Chris steals his father's pistol, he and Gordie run into local hoodlums "Ace" Merrill and Chris's older brother, "Eyeball". Ace threatens Chris with a lit cigarette and steals Gordie's [[New York Yankees|Yankees]] cap, which was a gift from Denny.

The boys begin their trip. After stopping at a junkyard for water, they are caught trespassing by owner Milo Pressman and his dog, Chopper. Once they escape over a fence, Milo calls Teddy's mentally ill veteran father a "loony" and refers to how he almost burned Teddy's ear off. An enraged Teddy tries to attack Milo but the other boys restrain him. The four continue their hike, and Chris encourages Gordie to fulfill his potential as a writer despite his father's disapproval. While crossing a railroad bridge, Gordie and Vern narrowly avoid being killed by an approaching train by jumping off the tracks. In the evening, as the boys camp, Gordie tells a fictional story he created about "David 'Lard-Ass' Hogan", an obese boy who is constantly bullied. Seeking payback, he downs a bottle of [[castor oil]] and eats a [[raw egg]] before entering a pie-eating contest and throws up deliberately, inducing mass vomiting among everyone there.

That night, Chris complains to Gordie that he hates being associated with his family's reputation. He admits to stealing school milk money but says he confessed to a teacher, yet was still suspended as the teacher kept quiet and pocketed the money. Devastated by the teacher's betrayal, Chris breaks down and cries.

The next day, the boys wade across a swamp, discovering it filled with leeches. Gordie faints after finding one in his underwear. After more hiking, the boys locate the body. The discovery traumatizes Gordie, who asks Chris why Denny had to die and cries about his father hating him. Chris comforts Gordie and asserts that his father simply does not know him.

Ace and his gang arrive to claim the body and threaten to hurt the boys if they stay. When Chris refuses to back down, Ace draws a switchblade. Gordie gets the gun, fires a warning shot, and comes to Chris's defense. Ace demands the weapon, but Gordie refuses while insulting and threatening him. Ace and his gang vow revenge and leave. The boys decide that exploiting Brower's death would be wrong and instead report it via an anonymous phone call. They walk back to Castle Rock and part ways.

Back in the present day, Gordie is finishing a memoir of the experience. He notes that Vern and Teddy separated from him and Chris in junior high. Vern married after high school, had four children, and became a forklift operator. Teddy tried getting into the Army but his damaged ear and poor eyesight disqualified him. He ended up serving jail time and working odd jobs. Chris took college prep courses with Gordie and, despite struggling, later became a lawyer, with the two eventually drifting apart. Recently, while attempting to break up a fight in a restaurant, he was stabbed to death. Gordie writes that despite not having seen Chris in over a decade, he will miss him forever. He ends his narration with the following words: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"