Page 28 (1/2)

16

JAKE WALKED SLOWLY ALONG Castle Avenue, past pizza shops and bars and bodegas where old women with suspicious faces poked the potatoes and squeezed the tomatoes The straps of his pack had chafed the skin beneath his arital ther-hty-five It felt more like a hundred and five to Jake

Up ahead, a police car turned onto the Avenue Jake at once beca supplies in theof a hardware store He watched the reflection of the blue-and-white pass in theand didn&039;t one

Hey, Jake, old buddy - where, exactly, are you going?

He hadn&039;t the slightest idea He felt positive that the boy he was looking for - the boy in the green bandanna and the yellow T-shirt that said NEVER A DULL MOMENT IN MID-WORLD - was so but a needle hiding in the haystack which was Brooklyn

He passed an alley which had been decorated with a tangle of spray-painted graffiti Mostly they were names - EL TIANTE 91, SPEEDY GONZALES, MOTORVAN MIKE - but a few mottos and words to the wise had been dropped in here and there, and Jake&039;s eyes fixed on two of these

A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE

had been written across the bricks in spray-paint which had weathered to the sarew in the vacant lot where Tom and Gerry&039;s Artistic Deli had once stood Below it, in a blue so dark it was almost black, someone had spray-painted this oddity:

I CRY YOUR PARDON

What does thatfrom the Bible, maybe - but it held like the eye of a snake is reputed to hold a bird At last he walked on, slowly and thoughtfully It was aler

Just ahead, he saw an oldto the shade as narled cane Behind the thick glasses he wore, his brown eyes swas

"I cry your pardon, sir," Jake said without thinking or even really hearing himself

The oldin surprise and fear "Liff -stick and brandished it clumsily in Jake&039;s direction

"Would you know if there&039;s a place called Markey Academy anyplace around here, sir?" This was utter desperation, but it was the only thing he could think to ask

The old man slowly lowered his stick - it was the sir that had done it He looked at Jake with the slightly lunatic interest of the old and almost senile "How come you not in school, boy?"

Jake s very old "Finals Week I caoes to Markey Academy, that&039;s all Sorry to have bothered you"

He stepped around the oldhe wouldn&039;t decide to whop hiood luck) and was almost down to the corner when the old man yelled: "Boy! Boyyyyy!"

Jake turned around

"There is no Markey Akidimy down here," the oldhere, so I should know Markey Avenue, yes, but no Markey Akidimy"

Jake&039;s stomach cramped with sudden excitement He took a step back toward the old, ain Jake stopped at once, leaving a twenty-foot safety zone between them "Where&039;s Markey Avenue, sir? Can you tell orse," the old man said "Didn&039;t I just say I&039;s down Turn left at the Majestic Theatre But I&039;m tellink you now, there iss no Markey Akidimy"

"Thank you, sir! Thank you!"

Jake turned around and looked up Castle AvenueYes - he could see the un out over the sidewalk a couple of blocks up He started to run toward it, then decided that ht attract attention and slowed down to a fast walk

The old o "Sir!" he said to himself in a tone of mild amazement "Sir, yet!"

He chuckled rustily and moved on

17

ROLAND&039;S BAND STOPPED AT dusk The gunslinger dug a shallow pit and lit a fire They didn&039;t need it for cooking purposes, but they needed it, nonetheless Eddie needed it If he was going to finish his carving, he would need light to work by

The gunslinger looked around and saw Susannah, a dark silhouette against the fading aquamarine sky, but he didn&039;t see Eddie

"Where is he?" he asked

"Down the road apiece You leave hih"

Roland nodded, bent over the firepit, and struck at a piece of flint with a worn steel bar Soon the kindling he had gathered was blazing He added small sticks, one by one, and waited for Eddie to return

18

HALF A MILE BACK the way they had coed in the middle of the Great Road with his unfinished key in one hand, watching the sky He glanced down the road, saw the spark of the fire, and knew exactly what Roland was doing and why Then he turned his gaze to the sky again He had never felt so lonely or so afraid