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"I don&039;t know And that&039;s the best reason of all to do it Jake, choose us a riddle from your book"

Eddie handed Riddle-De-Dues and finally stopped near the back "Whoa! This one&039;s a killer"

"Let&039;s hear it," Eddie said "If I don&039;t get it, Suze will We&039;re known at Fair-Days all across the land as Eddie Dean and His Riddling Queen"

"We&039;re witty tonight, ain&039;t we?" Susannah said "Let&039;s see hoitty you are after settin by the side o&039; the road until ht or so, honeychild"

Jake read: " &039;There is a thing that nothing is, and yet it has a name It&039;s sometimes tall and sometimes short, joins our talks, joins our sport, and plays at every game&039; "

They discussed this riddle for almost fifteen minutes, but none of them could even hazard an answer

"Maybe it&039;ll come to one of us while we&039;re asleep," Jake said "That&039;s how I got the one about the river"

"Cheap book, with the answers torn out," Eddie said He stood up and wrapped a hide blanket around his shoulders like a cloak

"Well, it was cheap Mr Tower gave it tofor, Roland?" Eddie asked

Roland shrugged as he lay down "I don&039;t know, but I think you&039;ll know it if you see it or hear it"

"Wakesleepy," Susannah said

"You better believe it"

4

A GRASSY DITCH RAN along the side of the road and Eddie sat on the far side of it with his blanket around his shoulders A thin scud of clouds had veiled the sky tonight, di When Eddie turned his face in that direction, he could clearly smell the buffalo which noned these plains - aThe clarity which had returned to his senses in these last few ,and, at times like these, a little spooky, as well

Very faintly, he could hear a buffalo calf bawling

He turned toward the city, and after a while he began to think he ht there - the electric candles of the twins&039; story - but he ell aware that he

You&039;re a long way fro, no matter what anyone says, but don&039;t hope so hard you lose sight of that one thought: you&039;re a long way from Forty-second StreetThat&039;s not New York up ahead, no ht wish it was That&039;s Lud, and it&039;ll be whatever it is And if you keep that in mind, maybe you&039;ll be okay

He passed his ti to think of an answer to the last riddle of the evening The scolding Roland had given hiruntled, and it would please hiood answer Of course they wouldn&039;t be able to check any answer against the back of the book, but he had an idea that with good riddles a good ansas usually self-evident

Soht that was the key and all the rest was probably just misdirection What was sometimes tall and sometimes short? Pants? No Pants were so, but he had never heard of tall pants Tales? Like pants, it only fit snugly one way Drinks were sometimes both tall and short -

"Order," he ht for a moment that he must have stulove-tight A tall order was a big job; a short order was soer or a tuna melt Except that tall orders and tuna ame

He felt a rush of frustration and had to same in a kid&039;s book All the saht really kill each other over riddlesif the stakes were high enough and cheating was involved

Let it go - you&039;re doing exactly what Roland said, thinking right past it

Still, what else did he have to think about?

Then the dru else There was no build-up; at onefull force, as if a switch had been turned Eddie walked to the edge of the road, turned toward the city, and lis-tened After a few moments he looked around to see if the drums had awakened the others, but he was still alone He turned toward Lud again and cupped his ears forith the sides of his hands

Bump ba-bump ba-bump-bumpbump-bump

Bump ba-bump ba-bump-bumpbump-bump

Eddie becaht about what it was; that he had, at least, solved this riddle

Bump ba-bump ba-bu by a deserted road in an al some one hundred and seventy miles from a city which had been built by so to a rock-and-roll drum-line that was crazy, but was it any crazier than a traffic-light that dinged and dropped a rusty green flag with the word GO printed on it? Any crazier than discovering the wreck of a Ger the words to the ZZ Top song in a whisper:

"You need just enough of that sticky stuff

To hold the seam on your fine blue-jeans

I say yeah, yeah "

They fit the beat perfectly It was the disco-pulse percussion of "Velcro Fly" Eddie was sure of it

A short tiun, and he could hear only the wind, and, more faintly, the Send River, which had a bed but never slept