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15

SUPPER CONSISTED OF WATER and greens They were all still recovering fro; even Oy refused the scraps Jake offered him after the first one or two

"How come you wouldn&039;t talk back there?" Jake scolded the bum-bier "You made me look like an idiot!"

"Id-yit!" Oy said, and put hisbetter all the ti to sound like you, Jake"

"Ake," Oy agreed, not lifting his s in Oy&039;s eyes; in the flickering light of the fire, they seemed to revolve slowly

"But he wouldn&039;t talk to the old people"

"Bu," Roland said "They&039;re odd creatures If I had to guess, I&039;d say this one was driven away by its own pack"

"Why do you think so?"

Roland pointed at Oy&039;s flank Jake had cleaned off the blood (Oy hadn&039;t enjoyed this, but had stood for it) and the bite was healing, although the bule that&039;s the bite of another bumbler"

"But ould his own pack - "

"Maybe they got tired of his chatter," Eddie said He had lain down beside Susannah and put an arm about her shoulders

"Maybe they did," Roland said, "especially if he was the only one of theht have decided he was too bright - or too uppity - for their taste Animals don&039;t know as norant of it, either"

The object of this discussion closed his eyes and appeared to go to sleep but Jake noticed his ears began twitching when the talk resuht are they?" Jake asked

Roland shrugged "The old grooood luck - swore he had one in his youth that could add He said it told su stones together with its loomy shadohich had lain there ever since they left River Crossing "Of course, grooms and fishermen are born to lie"

A co theht he would sleep soon, and that was fine by hi out of the southeast in rhyth

"That&039;s a rock and roll backbeat," Eddie said suddenly "I know it is Take away the guitars and that&039;s what you&039;ve got left In fact, it sounds quite a lot like ZZ Top"

"ZZ who?" Susannah asked

Eddie grinned "They didn&039;t exist in your when," he said "I mean, they probably did, but in &039;63 they would have been just a bunch of kids going to school down in Texas " He listened "I&039;ll be goddamned if that doesn&039;t sound just like the backbeat to so like &039;Sharp-Dressed Man&039; or &039;Velcro Fly&039; "

" Velcro Fly&039;?" Jake said "That&039;s a stupid nah," Eddie said "You missed it by ten years or so, sport"

"We&039;d better roll over," Roland said "Morning cooing on," Eddie said He hesitated, then said so when they had pulled Jake, whitefaced and shrieking, through the door-way and into this world "Don&039;t you think it&039;s about tiht find out we know more than we think"

"Yes, it&039;s almost time for that But not in the dark" Roland rolled onto his side, pulled up a blanket, and appeared to go to sleep

"Jesus," Eddie said "Just like that" He blew a disgusted little whistle between his teeth

"He&039;s right," Susannah said "Corinned and kissed the tip of her nose "Yes, Mummy"

Five minutes later he and Susannah were dead to the world, drums or no drums Jake found that his own sleepiness had stolen away, how-ever He lay looking up at die strange stars and listening to that steady, rhyth out of the darkness Maybe it was the Pubes, boogyingcalled "Velcro Fly" while they worked the frenzy

He thought of Blaine the Mono, a train so fast that it travelled across the huge, haunted world trailing a sonic boohts of Charlie the Choo-Choo, who had been retired to a forgotten siding when the new Burlington Zephyr arrived, rendering hiht of the expression on Char-lie&039;s face, the one that was supposed to be cheery and pleasant but soht about The Mid-World Railway Company, and the eht about how Charlie had been all ready to go when Mr Martin needed him, and how Charlie could blow his ohistle and feed his own firebox He wondered again if Engineer Bob had sabotaged the Burlington Zephyr in order to give his beloved Charlie a second chance

At last - and as suddenly as it had begun - the rhyth stopped, and Jake drifted off to sleep

16

HE DREAMED, BUT NOT of the plaster- on a stretch of blacktop highway so E signals - white X-shapes with red lights in their centers - flanked the road The lights were flashing and bells were ringing

Now a hu steadily louder It sounded like lightning in a bottle

Here it coreed

And suddenly a vast pink shape theels long was slicing across the plain toward them It was low and bullet-shaped, and when Jake saw it, a terrible fear filled his heart The two big s flashing in the sun at the front of the train looked like eyes

Don&039;t ask it silly questions, Jake told Oy It won&039;t play silly games It&039;s just an awful choo-choo train, and its name is Blaine the Pain

Suddenly Oy leaped onto the tracks and crouched there with his ears flattened back His golden eyes were blazing His teeth were bared in a desperate snarl