Wolves of the Calla

chorus girl said to the businessman, we've been here before.'

FIVE

In standard American English, the word with the most gradations of meaning is probably run . The Random House Unabridged Dictionary offers one hundred and seventy-eight options, beginning with 'to go quickly by moving the legs more rapidly than at a walk' and ending with 'melted or liquefied.' In the Crescent-Callas of the borderlands between Mid-World and Thunderclap, the blue ribbon for most meanings would have gone to commala . If the word were listed in the Random House Unabridged, the first definition (assuming they were assigned, as is common, in order of widest usage), would have been 'a variety of rice grown at the furthermost eastern edge of All-World.' The second one, however would have been 'sexual intercourse.' The third would have been 'sexual orgasm,' as in Did'ee come commala' ? (The hoped-for reply being Aye, say thankya, commala big-big.) To wet the commala is to irrigate the rice in a dry time; it is also to masturbate. Commala is the commencement of some big and joyful meal, like a family feast (not the meal itself, do ya, but the moment of beginning to eat). A man who is losing his hair (as Garrett Strong was that season), is coming commala. Putting animals out to stud is damp commala. Gelded animals are dry commala, although no one could tell you why. A virgin is green commala, a menstruating woman is red commala, an old man who can no longer make iron before the forge is—say sorry—sof' commala. To stand commala is to stand belly-to-belly, a slang term meaning 'to share secrets.' The sexual connotations of the word are clear, but why should the rocky arroyos north of town be known as the commala draws? For that matter, why is a fork sometimes a commala, but never a spoon or a knife? There aren't a hundred and seventy-eight meanings for the word, but there must be seventy. Twice that, if one were to add in the various shadings. One of the meanings— it would surely be in the top ten—is that which Pere Callahan denned as schmoozing . The actual phrase would be something like 'come Sturgis commala,' or 'come Bryna commala.' The literal meaning would be to stand belly-to-belly with the community as a whole.

During the following five days, Roland and his ka-tet attempted to continue this process, which the outworlders had begun at Took's General Store. The going was difficult at first ('Like trying to light a fire with damp kindling,' Susannah said crossly after their first night), but little by little, the folken came around. Or at least warmed up to them. Each night, Roland and the Deans returned to the Pere's rectory. Each late afternoon or evening, Jake returned to the Rocking B Ranch. Andy took to meeting him at the place where the B's ranch-road split off from East Road and escorting him the rest of the way, each time making his bow and saying, 'Good evening, soh! Would you like your horoscope? This time of year is sometimes called Charyou Reap! You will see an old friend! A young lady thinks of you warmly!' And so on.

Jake had asked Roland again why he was spending so much time with Benny Slightman.

'Are you complaining?' Roland asked. 'Don't like him anymore?'

'I like him fine, Roland, but if there's something I'm supposed to be doing besides jumping in the hay, teaching Oy to do somersaults, or seeing who can skip a flat rock on the river the most times, I think you ought to tell me what it is.'

'There's nothing else,' Roland said. Then, as an afterthought: 'And get your sleep. Growing boys need plenty of sleep.'

'Why am I out there?'

'Because it seems right to me that you should be,' Roland said. 'All I want is for you to keep your eyes open and tell me if you see something you don't like or don't understand.'

'Anyway, kiddo, don't you see enough of us during the days?' Eddie asked him.

They were together during those next five days, and the days were long. The novelty of riding sai Overholser's horses wore off in a hurry. So did complaints of sore muscles and blistered butts. On one of these rides, as they approached the place where Andy would be waiting, Roland asked Susannah bluntly if she had considered abortion as a way of solving her problem.

'Well,' she said, looking at him curiously from her horse, 'I'm not going to tell you the thought never crossed my mind.'

'Banish it,' he said. 'No abortion.'

'Any particular reason why not?'

'Ka,' said Roland.

'Kaka,' Eddie replied promptly. This was an old joke, but the three of them laughed, and Roland was delighted to laugh with them. And with that, the subject was dropped. Roland could hardly believe it, but he was glad. The fact that Susannah seemed so little disposed to discuss Mia and the coming of the baby made him grateful indeed. He supposed there were things—quite a few of them—which she felt better off not knowing.

Still, she had never lacked for courage. Roland was sure the questions would have come sooner or later, but after five days of canvassing the town as a quartet (a quintet counting Oy, who always rode with Jake), Roland began sending her out to the Jaffords smallhold at midday to try her hand with the dish.

Eight days or so after their long palaver on the rectory porch—the one that had gone on until four in the morning— Susannah invited them out to the Jaffords smallhold to see her progress. 'It's Zalia's idea,' she said. 'I guess she wants to know if I pass.'

Roland knew he only had to ask Susannah herself if he wanted an answer to that question, but he was curious. When they arrived, they found the entire family gathered on the back porch, and several of Tian's neighbors, as well: Jorge Estrada and his wife, Diego Adams (in chaps), the Javiers. They looked like spectators at a Points practice. Zalman and Tia, the roont twins, stood to one side, goggling at all the company with wide eyes. Andy was also there, holding baby Aaron (who was sleeping) in his arms.

'Roland, if you wanted all this kept secret, guess what?' Eddie said.

Roland was not put out of countenance, although he realized now that his threat to the cowboys who'd seen sai Eisenhart throw the dish had been utterly useless. Country-folk talked, that was all. Whether in the borderlands or the baronies, gossip was ever the chief sport. And at the very least , he mused, those humpies will spread the news that Roland's a hard boy, strong commala, and not to be trifled with .

'It is what it is,' he said. 'The Calla-folken have known for donkey's years that the Sisters of Oriza throw the dish. If they know Susannah throws it, too—and well—maybe it's to the good.'

Jake said, 'I just hope she doesn't, you know, mess up.'

There were respectful greetings for Roland, Eddie, and Jake as they mounted the porch. Andy told Jake a young lady was pining for him. Jake blushed and said he'd just as soon not know about stuff like that, if that did Andy all right.

'As you will, soh.' Jake found himself studying the words and numbers stamped on Andy's midsection like a steel tattoo and wondering again if he was really in this world of robots and cowboys, or if it was all some sort of extraordinarily vivid dream. 'I hope this baby will wake up soon, so I do. And cry! Because I know several soothing cradle-songs—'

'Hush up, ye creakun steel bandit!' Gran-pere said crossly, and after crying the old man's pardon (in his usual complacent, not-a-bit-sorry tone of voice), Andy did. Messenger, Many Other Functions , Jake thought. Is one of your other functions teasing folks, Andy, or is that just my imagination ?

Susannah had gone into the house with Zalia. When they came out, Susannah was wearing not one reed pouch, but two. They hung to her hips on a pair of woven straps. There was another strap, too, Eddie saw, running around her waist and holding the pouches snug. Like holster tie-downs.

'That's quite the hookup, say thankya,' Diego Adams remarked.

'Susannah thought it up,' Zalia said as Susannah got into her wheelchair. 'She calls it a docker's clutch.'

It wasn't, Eddie thought, not quite, but it was close. He felt an admiring smile lift the corners of his mouth, and saw a similar one on Roland's. And Jake's. By God, even Oy appeared to be grinning.

'Will it draw water, that's what I wonder,' Bucky Javier said. That such a question should even be asked, Eddie thought, only emphasized the difference between the gunslingers and the Calla- folken . Eddie and his mates had known from first look what the hookup was and how it would work.