Wolves of the Calla

Girl n her fella
Lie down togetha
They slippy 'ay slide-o
Under 'ay sky-o
Come-come-commala
Rice come a-falla!

At least three more verses followed these two. By then Eddie had lost track of the words, but he was pretty sure he got the idea: a young man and woman, planting both rice and children in the spring of the year. The song's tempo, suicidally speedy to begin with, sped up and up until the words were nothing but a jargon-spew and the crowd was clapping so rapidly their hands were a blur. And the heels of Roland's boots had disappeared entirely. Eddie would have said it was impossible for anyone to dance at that speed, especially after having consumed a heavy meal.

Slow down, Roland , he thought. It's not like we can call 911 if you vapor-lock .

Then, on some signal neither Eddie, Susannah, nor Jake understood, Roland and the Calla- folken stopped in mid-career, threw their hands to the sky, and thrust their hips forward, as if in coitus. 'COMMALA !' they shouted, and that was the end.

Roland swayed, sweat pouring down his cheeks and brow… and tumbled off the stage into the crowd. Eddie's heart took a sharp upward lurch in his chest. Susannah cried out and began to roll her wheelchair forward. Jake stopped her before she could get far, grabbing one of the push-handles.

'I think it's part of the show!' he said.

'Yar, I'm pretty sure it is, too,' Benny Slightman said.

The crowd cheered and applauded. Roland was conveyed through them and above them by willing upraised arms. His own arms were raised to the stars. His chest heaved like a bellows. Eddie watched in a kind of hilarious disbelief as the gunslinger rolled toward them as if on the crest of a wave.

'Roland sings, Roland dances, and to top it all off,' he said, 'Roland stage-dives like Joey Ramone.'

'What are you talking about, sugar?' Susannah asked.

Eddie shook his head. 'Doesn't matter. But nothing can top that. It's got to be the end of the party.'

It was.

TWELVE

Half an hour later, four riders moved slowly down the high street of Calla Bryn Sturgis. One was wrapped in a heavy salide . Frosty plumes came from their mouths and those of their mounts on each exhale. The sky was filled with a cold strew of diamond-chips, Old Star and Old Mother brightest among them. Jake had already gone his way with the Slightmans to Eisenhart's Rocking B. Callahan led the other three travelers, riding a bit ahead of them. But before leading them anywhere, he insisted on wrapping Roland in the heavy blanket.

'You say it's not even a mile to your place—' Roland began.

'Never mind your blather,' Callahan said. 'The clouds have rolled away, the night's turned nigh-on cold enough to snow, and you danced a commala such as I've never seen in my years here.'

'How many years would that be?' Roland asked.

Callahan shook his head. 'I don't know. Truly, gunslinger, I don't. I know well enough when I came here—that was the winter of 1983, nine years after I left the town of Jerusalem's Lot. Nine years after I got this.' He raised his scarred hand briefly.

'Looks like a burn,' Eddie remarked.

Callahan nodded, but said no more on the subject. 'In any case, time over here is different, as you all must very well know.'

'It's in drift,' Susannah said. 'Like the points of the compass.'

Roland, already wrapped in the blanket, had seen Jake off with a word… and with something else, as well. Eddie heard the clink of metal as something passed from the hand of the gunslinger to that of the 'prentice. A bit of money, perhaps.

Jake and Benny Slightman rode off into the dark side by side. When Jake turned and offered a final wave, Eddie had returned it with a surprising pang. Christ, you're not his father , he thought. That was true, but it didn't make the pang go away.

'Will he be all right, Roland?' Eddie had expected no other answer but yes, had wanted nothing more than a bit of balm for that pang. So the gunslinger's long silence alarmed him.

At long last Roland replied, 'We'll hope so.' And on the subject of Jake Chambers, he would say no more.

THIRTEEN

Now here was Callahan's church, a low and simple log building with a cross mounted over the door.

'What name do you call it, Pere?' Roland asked.

'Our Lady of Serenity.'

Roland nodded. 'Good enough.'

'Do you feel it?' Callahan asked. 'Do any of you feel it?' He didn't have to say what he was talking about.

Roland, Eddie, and Susannah sat quietly for perhaps an entire minute. At last Roland shook his head.

Callahan nodded, satisfied. 'It sleeps.' He paused, then added: 'Tell God thankya.'

'Something's there, though,' Eddie said. He nodded toward the church. 'It's like a… I don't know, a weight, almost.'

'Yes,' Callahan said. 'Like a weight. It's awful. But tonight it sleeps. God be thanked.' He sketched a cross in the frosty air.

Down a plain dirt track (but smooth, and bordered with carefully tended hedges) was another log building. Callahan's house, what he called the rectory.

'Will you tell us your story tonight?' Roland said.

Callahan glanced at the gunslinger's thin, exhausted face and shook his head. 'Not a word of it, sai. Not even if you were fresh. Mine is no story for starlight. Tomorrow at breakfast, before you and your friends are off on your errands—would that suit?'

'Aye,' Roland said.