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She had an idea the Really Bad Man had been on the road to his Tower a good long time If that was so, just the amount of stuff still left in here, poor as soet ot what she needed and worked her silent, snakelike way back to the wheelchair When she got there she propped herself on one arm and pulled the rope out of the pocket like a fisherwolanced over at Eddie every now and then just to make sure he was asleep
He never stirred until Detta threw the noose around his neck and pulled it taut
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He was dragged backward, at first thinking he was still asleep and this was so buried alive or perhaps smothered
Then he felt the pain of the noose sinking into his throat, felt wared This was no dream He clawed at the rope and tried for his feet
She yanked hi ar purple
"Quit on it!" Detta hissed frooan kill you if you quit on it, but if you don&039;t, I&039;oan choke you dead"
Eddie lowered his hands and tried to be still The running slipknot Odetta had tossed over his neck loosened enough for hi breath All you could say for it was that it was better than not breathing at all
When the panicked beating of his heart had slowed a little, he tried to look around The noose iain
" Nev &039; rayht now"
He looked back at the ocean and the knot loosened enough to allow hiain His left hand crept surreptitiously down to the waistband of his pants (but she saw the rinning) There was nothing there She had taken the gun
She crept up on you while you were asleep, Eddie It was the gunslinger&039;s voice, of course It doesn&039;t do any good to say I told you so now, but I told you so This is what roets you - a noose around your neck and a crazy wouns so to kill me, she already would have done it She would have done it while I was asleep
And what is it you think she&039;s going to do, Eddie? Hand you an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Disney World?
"Listen," he said "Odetta - "
The as barely out of his ain
"You doan want to be callin me dat Nex time you be callin me dat be de las time you be callin anyone anythin My name&039;s Detta Walker, and if you want to keep drawin breaf into yo lungs, you little piece of ashed shit, you betternoises and clawed at the noose Big black spots of nothing began to explode in front of his eyes like evil flowers
At last the choking band around his throat eased again
"Got dat, honky?"
"Yes," he said, but it was only a hoarse choke of sound
"Den say it Say my name"
"Detta"
"Say erous hysteria wavered in her voice, and at that lad he couldn&039;t see her
"Detta Walker"
"Good" The noose eased a little ood, if you want to live til sundown You don&039;t want to be trine to be cute, like I seen you jus trine t&039;snake down an git dat gun I took off&039;n you while you was asleep You don&039;t want to cause Detta, she got the sight See what you goan try befo you try it Sho
"You don&039;t want to try nuthin cute cause I ain&039;t got no legs, either I have learned to do a lot of things since I lost euns, and dat ought to go for somethin You think so?"
"Yeah," Eddie croaked "I&039;ood Dat&039;s real good" She cackled "I been one busy bitch while you been sleepin Got dis bidness all figured out Here&039;s what I want you to do, whitebread: put yo hands behin you and feel aroun until you find a loop jus like d&039;one I got roun yo neck There be three of em I been braidin while you been sleepin, lazybones!" She cackled again "When you feel dat loop, you goan put yo wrists right one against t&039;other an slip eoan feel ht, and when you feel dat, you goan say &039;Dis ht here, while she ain&039;t got her good hold on dat jerk-rope&039; But - " Here Detta&039;s voice became muffled as well as a Southern darkie caricature " - you better take a look aroun befo you go doin anythin rash"
Eddie did Detta lookedthat would have struck tear into heartsin Macy&039;s when the gunslinger snatched her was now filthy and torn She&039;d used the knife she had taken froer&039;s purse - the one he and Roland had used to cut thetape away - to slash her dress in two other places, creating makeshift holsters just above the swell of her hips The worn butts of the gunslinger&039;s revolvers protruded from them
Her voice was muffled because the end of the rope was clenched in her teeth A freshly cut end protruded frorin; the rest of the line, the part which led to the noose around his neck, protruded fro so predatory and barbaric about this irin - that he was frozen, staring at her with a horror that only rin widen
"You try to be cute while I be takin care of yo hans," she said in her oan joik yo win&039;pipe shut wif in You understan?"
He didn&039;t trust himself to speak He only nodded
"Good Maybe you be livin a little bit longer after all"
"If I don&039;t," Eddie croaked, "you&039;re never going to have the pleasure of shoplifting in Macy&039;s again, Detta Because he&039;ll know, and then it&039;ll be everybody out of the pool"
"Hush up," Detta saidalmost crooned "You jes hush up Leave the thinkin to the folks dat kin do it All you got to do is be feelin aroun fo dat next loop"
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Ibeen braidin while you been sleepin, she had said, and with disgust andalarm, Eddie discovered she meant exactly what she said The rope had beco slip-knots The first she had noosed around his neck as he slept The second secured his hands behind his back Then she pushed hi his feet up until his heels touched his butt He sahere this was leading and balked She pulled one of Roland&039;s revolvers froainst Eddie&039;s teray voice "Only if I do it, you goan be dead when I do I jes kick some san&039; over de brains dat squoit out d&039;other side yo haid, cover de hole wit yo hair He think you be sleepin!" She cackled again
Eddie brought his feet up, and she quickly secured the third running slip-knot around his ankles
"There Trussed up just as neat as a calf at a ro-day-o"
That described it as well as anything, Eddie thought If he tried to bring his feet down fro unco his ankles even th of rope between his ankles and his wrists, which would in turn tighten that slipknot, and the rope between his wrists and the noose she&039;d put around his neck, and
She was dragging hi him down the beach
"Hey! What - "
He tried to pull back and felt everything tighten - including his ability to draw breath He let hio as liet that, asshole, because if you lower your feet enough you&039;re going to strangle) and let her drag hi of rock peeled skin away froin to flow She was panting harshly The sound of the waves and the boo into the rock tunnel were louder
Drown me? Sweet Christ, is that what she ht he knehat she h the twisted kelp whichstuff as cold as the fingers of drowned sailors
He re once, Souys An Aood, because wasn&039;t any of us that&039;d go after a gook in the bush Not unless he was southole hiuys that tried to save hiuy died You knohat they called a guy like that, Eddie?
Eddie had shaken his head, cold with the vision of it
They called hi to draw flies Or maybe even a bear
That&039;s what Detta was doing: using him as a honeypot
She left hih tide line, left hi the ocean It was not the tide coh the door, was supposed to see, because the tide was on the ebb and wouldn&039;t get up this far again for another six hours And long before then
Eddie rolled his eyes up a little and saw the sun striking a long gold track across the ocean What was it? Four o&039;clock ? About that Sunset would co before he had to worry about the tide
And when dark ca out of the waves; they would crawl their questioning way up the beach to where he lay helplessly trussed, and then they would tear him apart
7
That time stretched out interminably for Eddie Dean The idea of ti to happen to hian to throb with a disco to pain and finally to shrieking agony He would relax his ht, and when he was on the verge of strangling he wouldthe pressure, allowing soer sure he could ht cos back up