Jake made no reply. He was dazed. He had dreamed about the same disfigured boy, but not in any saloon; it had been in Gage Park, the one where they'd seen Charlie the Choo-Choo.
Last night. Had to have been. He hadn't remembered until now, would probably never have remembered if Sheemie hadn't told his own dream. And had Roland, Eddie, and Susannah also had a version of the same dream? Yes. He could see it on their faces, just as he could see that Ted and Dinky looked moved but otherwise bewildered.
Roland stood up with a wince, clamped his hand briefly to his hip, then said, "Thankee-sai, Sheemie, you've helped us greatly."
Sheemie smiled uncertainly. "How did I do that?"
"Never mind, my dear." Roland turned his attention to Ted. "My friends and I are going to step outside briefly. We need to speak an-tet."
"Of course," Ted said. He shook his head as if to clear it.
"Do my peace of mind a favor and keep it short," Dinky said. "We're probably still all right, but I don't want to push our luck."
"WilL you need him to jump you back inside?" Eddie asked, nodding; to Sheemie. This was in the nature of a rhetorical question; how else would the three of them get back?
"Well, yeah, but..." Dinky began.
"Then you'll be pushing your luck plenty." That said, Eddie,
Susannah, and Jake followed Roland out of the cave. Oy stayed behind, sitting with his new friend, Haylis of Chayven. Something about that troubled Jake. It wasn't a feeling of jealousy but rather one of dread. As if he were seeing an omen someone wiser than himself-one of the Manni-folk, perhaps-could interpret. But would he want to know?
Perhaps not.
SIX
"I didn't remember my dream until he told his," Susannah said, "and if he hadn't told his, I probably never would have remembered."
"Yeah," Jake said.
"But I remember it clearly enough now," she went on. "I was in a subway station and the boy came down the stairs-"
Jake said, "I was in Gage Park-"
"And I was at the Markey Avenue playground, where me and Henry used to play one-on-one," Eddie said. "In my dream, the kid with the bloody face was wearing a tee-shirt that said NEVER A DULL MOMENT-"
"-IN MID-WORLD," Jake finished, and Eddie gave him a startled look.
Jake barely noticed; his thoughts had turned in another direction. "I wonder if Stephen King ever uses dreams in his writing. You know, as yeast to make the plot rise."
This was a question none of them could answer.
"Roland?" Eddie asked. "Where were you in your dream?"
"The Travellers' Rest, where else? Wasn't I there with Sheemie, once upon a time?" With my friends, now long gone, he could have added, but did not. "I was sitting at the table Eldred Jonas used to favor, playing one-hand Watch Me."
Susannah said quiedy, "The boy in die dream was the Beam, wasn't he?"
As Roland nodded, Jake realized that Sheemie had told them which task came first, after all. Had told them beyond all doubt.
"Do any of you have a question?" Roland asked.
One by one, his companions shook their heads.
"We are ka-tet," Roland said, and in unison they answered:
"We are one from many."
Roland tarried a moment longer, looking at them-more than looking, seeming to savor their faces-and then he led them back inside...
"Sheemie," he said.
"Yes, sai! Yes, Roland, Will Dearborn that was!"
"We're going to save the boy you told us about. We're going to make the bad folk stop hurting him."
Sheemie smiled, but it was a puzzled smile. He didn't remember the boy in his dream, not anymore. "Good, sai, that's good!"
Roland turned his attention to Ted. "Once Sheemie gets you back this time, put him to bed. Or, if that would attract the wrong sort of attention, just make sure he takes it easy."
"We can write him down for the sniffles and keep him out of The Study," Ted agreed. "There are a lot of colds Thunderside.
But you folks need to understand that there are no guarantees.
He could get us back inside this time, and then-" He snapped his fingers in the air.
Laughing, Sheemie imitated him, only snapping both sets of fingers. Susannah looked away, sick to her stomach.
"I know that," Roland said, and although his tone did not change very much, each member of his ka-tet knew it was a good thing this palaver was almost over. Roland had reached the rim of his patience. "Keep him quiet even if he's well and feeling fine. We won't need him for what I have in mind, and thanks to the weapons you've left us."
"They're good weapons," Ted agreed, "but are they good enough to wipe out sixty men, can-toi, and taheen?"
"Will the two of you stand with us, once the fight begins?"
Roland asked.
"With the greatest pleasure," Dinky said, baring his teeth in a remarkably nasty grin.
"Yes," Ted said. "And it might be that I have another weapon. Did you listen to the tapes I left you?"
"Yes," Jake replied.
"So you know the story about the guy who stole my wallet."
This time they all nodded.
"What about that young woman?" Susannah asked. "One tough cookie, you said. What about Tanya and her boyfriend? Or her husband, if that's what he is?"