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IN HIS DREAM THAT night, Eddie again alking down Second Ave-nue toward Tom and Gerry&039;s Artistic Deli on the corner of Second and Forty-sixth He passed a record store and the Rolling Stones boomed from the speakers:

"I see a red door and I want to paint it black,

No colours anyirls walk by dressed in their summer clothes,

I have to turn oes "

He walked on, passing a store called Reflections of You between Forty-ninth and Forty-eighth He saw hi in the displayHe thought he looked better than he had in years - hair a little too long, but otherwise tanned and fit The clothes, though uh-uh, man Square-bear shit all the way Blue blazer, white shirt, dark red tie, gray dress pantshe had never owned a yuppie-from-hell outfit like that in his life

So him

Eddie tried to burrow deeper into the dreaot to the deli and used his key to go through the door and into the field of roses He wanted to see it all again - the endless blanket of red, the overarching blue sky where those great white cloud-ships sailed, and the Dark TowerHe was afraid of the darkness which lived within that eldritch coluot too close, but he wanted to see it again just the same Needed to see it

The hand, however, would not stop shaking The drea Second Avenue became the smell of woodsmoke - thin now, because the fire was almost out

It was Susannah She looked scared Eddie sat up and put an arrove, within earshot of the strea On the other side of the glowing embers which had been their campfire, Roland lay asleep His sleep was not easy He had cast aside his single blanket and lay with his knees drawn up almost to his chest With his boots off, his feet looked white and narrow and defenseless The great toe of the right foot was gone, victi which had also snatched away part of his right hand

He was ain After a few repetitions, Eddie realized it was the phrase he had spoken before keeling over in the clearing where Susannah had shot the bear: Go, then - there are other worlds than these He would fall silent for a moment, then call out the boy&039;s name: "Jake! Where are you? Jake!"

The desolation and despair in his voice filled Eddie with horror His arainst hiht arht fell into his open eyes

"Jake, where are you?" he called to the night "Coain What should we do, Suze?"

"I don&039;t know I just knew I couldn&039;t listen to it anymore by "

"Go, then," the gunslingerhis knees up once more, "there are other worlds than these" He was silent for a moment Then his chest hitched and he loosed the boy&039;s na cry In the woods behind thes toward so part of the world

"Do you have any ideas?" Susannah asked Her eyes ide and ith tears "Maybe we should wake hiunslinger&039;s revolver, the one he wore on his left hip It had been placed, in its holster, on a neatly folded square of hide within easy reach of the place where Roland lay "I don&039;t think I dare," he added at last

"It&039;s driving him crazy"

Eddie nodded

"What do we do about it? Eddie, what do we do?"

Eddie didn&039;t know An antibiotic had stopped the infection caused by the bite of the lobster-thing; now Roland was burning with infection again, but Eddie didn&039;t think there was an antibiotic in the world that would cure rong with him this time

"I don&039;t know Lie doith me, Suze"

Eddie threw a hide over both of the quieted

"If he goes insane, he may hurt us," she said

"Don&039;t I know it" This unpleasant idea had occurred to him in terms of the bear - its red, hate-filled eyes (and had there not been bewilder deep in those red depths?) and its deadly slashing claws Eddie&039;s eyes er&039;s good left hand, and he reain how fast Roland had been when he&039;d seen thedoard theer went mad, and if he and Susannah became the focus of that madness, they would have no chance No chance at all

He pressed his face into the warm hollow of Susannah&039;s neck and closed his eyes

Not long after, Roland ceased his babbling Eddie raised his head and looked over The gunslinger appeared to be sleeping naturally again Eddie looked at Susannah and saw that she had also gone to sleep He lay down beside her, gently kissed the swell of her breast, and closed his own eyes

Not you, buddy; you&039;re gonna be awake a long, long time

But they had been on the move for two days and Eddie was bone-tired He drifted offdrifted down

Back to the dreao back to Second Avenue back to Tom and Gerry&039;s That&039;s what I want

The dreaht, however

30

THEY ATE A QUICK breakfast as the sun caear, and then returned to the wedge-shaped clearing It didn&039;t look quite so spooky in the clear light of , but all three of them were still at pains to keep well away fro slashes of black and yellow If Roland had any recollection of the bad drean He had gone about the htful, stolid silence

"How do you plan to keep to a straight-line course froer

"If the legends are right, that should be no problenetised deep into his purse and at last eed with a sh it was a long silver needle

"A cole Scout!"

Roland shook his head "Not a compass I knohat they are, of course, but these days I keep my directions by the sun and stars, and even now they serve me quite well"

"Even now?" Susannah asked, a trifle uneasily

He nodded "The directions of the world are also in drift"

"Christ," Eddie said He tried to i slyly off to the east or west and gave up al down fro had always made him feel a little ill

"This is just a needle, but it is steel and it should serve our purpose as well as a compass The Beaed in his purse again and came out with a poorly made pottery cup A crack ran down one side Roland had mended this artifact, which he had found at the old caum Noent to the streaht it back to where Susannah sat in her wheelchair He put the cup down carefully on the wheelchair&039;s arm, and when the surface of the water inside was calm, he dropped the needle in It sank to the bottom and rested there

"Wow!" Eddie said "Great! I&039;d fall at your feet in wonder, Roland, but I don&039;t want to spoil the crease in my pants"

"I&039;m not finished Hold the cup steady, Susannah"

She did, and Roland pushed her slowly across the clearing When she was about twelve feet in front of the door, he turned the chair carefully so she was facing away from it

"Eddie!" she cried "Look at this!"

He bent over the pottery cup, h Roland&039;sslowly to the surface It reached it and bobbed there as serenely as a cork would have done Its direction lay in a straight line froled forest ahead "Holy shit - a floating needle Now I really have seen everything"

"Hold the cup, Susannah"