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"The e?"

"Ginny, it’s me Crow"

"Oh, hi, how are you?"

"I’m fine, I…"

"My God, do you know about all the stuff that’s happening around here?" Ginny asked in a low and conspiratorial voice

"So from my cell and I don’t have much time Reception sucks out here I need to speak to Terry"

"Oh, gee, Crow, like I said he’s in a " For effect she added, "With Philadelphia narcotics detectives," as if they were so swords

"I know that It’s about that stuff that I’ht be, anyway Can you tell him I’m on the phone?"

"Oh, I don’t know--"

"Ginny, Terry deputized ht, so you can consider this official business"

"You’re back with the departet hiht about it for another exasperating few seconds, and then said, "Okay, Crow I’ll just do that"

"Thanks," Crow said, and as soon as she put him on hold, he said, "Hallelujah" Crow had never liked Ginny Welsh, though she never knew it Ginny acted as if being the receptionist-​cuional law enforcement

While he waited, Crow looked over at Mike Sweeney, who sat in the passenger seat of his car The boy’s bike was stowed in the trunk, the trunk’s hood held doith bungee cords The kid looked very s as he sat there, and it made Crow feel really bad for him Mike Sweeney, or Iron Mike as Crow had nicknaht but lonely kids with so ination that it almost, but not quite, made up for the fact that he had few friends It was easy to see that the kid was on a totally different intellectual plane than his age-​group peers, and whereas intellectuality would probably see hi the adult co hier Crow also knew that Mike’s ho he could relate to

Mike saw hiular custo his hard-​earned newspaper route oria The kid knew almost as much about classic horror films as Crow did, but was the master by far when it cah to know that the nature of his own store, as well as his extensive readings of horror fiction and folklore, was part of his personal escape route To ht on hium and latex That--and the bottle--had been Croay of not dealing with the events of the Black Harvest, and he was fully aware of that fact His dissociation was entirely deliberate

It appeared to hih, that Mike on the other hand walked a very fine line between reality and fantasy and was far less aware of it Cro that Mike called his bike the War Machine, and that he often drifted away in thought, visiting who knehat kind of interior landscape Croondered if he would grow out of the fantasies, or would grow strong enough to confront theate very well Vic was older than Crow and had been a legend in Pine Deep for decades He was known as a hitter Totally fearless in a bar fight and just as tough as he thought he was, but a world-​class asshole nonetheless More than once Crow had seen Mike walking with that stiffness that only comes from a leather belt wielded with enthusiasm It made Crow sick and furious, but also frustrated because there wasn’t anything he could do about it, as he knew from personal experience His own dad had a hard hand and used it way too often In his heart, Croould love to invite Vic to step behind the proverbial woodshed and dance him a bit Croasn’t entirely sure he could take Vic, but he would love to try The probleht with Gus Bernhardt and Jie Anyone ent up against Vic, or tried to sucker punch him, wound up first in the hospital and then in jail, or in court Vic was as cunning as he was vicious

So, not being able to do anything about the problem, Crow tried to tackle at least one of the sy him like a real person, which was the case anyway, and once in a while trying to work into conversation some of the values Crow himself found useful in life He had even shown Mike a few jujitsu et hooked on martial arts the way he had It had helped Crow stand up to his own abusive father--enerally don’t like prey that shows its own claws and teeth

The kid was looking at hied elaborately and pointed at the phone Mike nodded Crow had stepped out of the car tothe boy to hear about the h already

"Crow?" Terry’s voice ca Crow ju happened at the hayride"

"Huh? Oh no, I haven’t gotten there yet"

There was a brief silence on the line; then in a controlled voice, Terry said, "You, ah, haven’t even gotten there yet? I see"

"No, you don’t I’ else ca ‘else’ caoing on around here?"

Croalked another couple of paces from the car "I have Mike Sweeney with me"

"Who, may I ask, is Mike Sweeney?"

"Kid who delivers the paper"

"Okay And you’re what--learning his route?"

"No Actually I alh…I wasn’t ai for him"

"I should hope not"