Darlene returned, poured more coffee, looked at the empty dishes. 'Why, you get a gold star,' she said. 'Anything else?'

'More bacon,' Mr Gray said. He consulted Jonesy's files for the correct terminology, and added: 'A double order.'

And may you choke on it, Jonesy thought, but now without much hope. Jonesy thought, but now without much hope.

'Gotta stoke the stove,' Darlene said, a comment Mr Gray didn't understand and didn't bother hunting down in Jonesy's files. He put two sugars in his coffee, looked around to make sure he wasn't observed, then poured the contents of a third packet down his throat. Jonesy's eyes halfclosed for a few seconds as Mr Gray drowned happily in the bliss of sweet.

You can have that any time you want it, Jonesy said through the door. Now he supposed he knew how Satan felt when he took Jesus up on the mountaintop and tempted him with all the cities of the earth. Not good; not really bad; just doing the job, selling the product. Jonesy said through the door. Now he supposed he knew how Satan felt when he took Jesus up on the mountaintop and tempted him with all the cities of the earth. Not good; not really bad; just doing the job, selling the product.

Except . . . check that. It did feel did feel good, because he knew he was getting through. He wasn't opening stab-wounds exactly, but he was at least pricking Mr Gray. Making him sweat little blood-beads of desire. good, because he knew he was getting through. He wasn't opening stab-wounds exactly, but he was at least pricking Mr Gray. Making him sweat little blood-beads of desire.

Give it up, Jonesy coaxed. Jonesy coaxed. Go native. You can spend years exploring my senses. They're pretty sharp; I'm still under forty. Go native. You can spend years exploring my senses. They're pretty sharp; I'm still under forty.

No reply from Mr Gray. He looked around, saw no one looking his way, poured fake maple syrup into his coffee, slurped it, and looked around again for his supplemental bacon. Jonesy sighed. This was like being with a strict Muslim who has somehow wound up on a Las Vegas holiday.

On the far side of the restaurant was an arch with a sign reading TRUCKERS' LOUNGE & SHOWERS above it. In the short hallway beyond, there was a bank of pay telephones. Several drivers stood there, no doubt explaining to spouses and bosses that they wouldn't be back on time, they'd been shut down by a surprise storm in Maine, they were at Dysart's Truck Stop (known to the cognoscenti as Dry Farts, (known to the cognoscenti as Dry Farts, Jonesy thought) south of Derry and here they would likely remain until at least noon tomorrow. Jonesy thought) south of Derry and here they would likely remain until at least noon tomorrow.

Jonesy turned from the office window with its view of the truck stop and looked at his desk, now covered with all his old and comforting clutter. There was his phone, the blue Trimline. Would it be possible to call Henry on it? Was Henry even still alive? Jonesy thought he was. He thought that if Henry were dead, he would have felt the moment of his passing - more shadows in the room, perhaps. Elvis has left the building, Elvis has left the building, Beaver had often said when he spotted a name he knew in the obits. Beaver had often said when he spotted a name he knew in the obits. What a fuckitt pisser. What a fuckitt pisser. Jonesy didn't think Henry had left the building just yet. It was even possible that Henry had an encore in mind. Jonesy didn't think Henry had left the building just yet. It was even possible that Henry had an encore in mind.

8

Mr Gray didn't choke on his second order of bacon, but when his lower belly suddenly cramped up, he let out a dismayed roar. You poisoned me! You poisoned me!

Relax, Jonesy said. Jonesy said. You just need to make a little room, my friend. You just need to make a little room, my friend.

Room? What do you- He broke off as another cramp gripped his gut.

I mean that we had better hurry along to the little boys' room, Jonesy said. Jonesy said. Good God, didn't all those abductions you guys did in the sixties teach you anything about the human anatomy? Good God, didn't all those abductions you guys did in the sixties teach you anything about the human anatomy?

Darlene had left the check, and Mr Gray picked it up.

Leave her fifteen per cent on the table, Jonesy said. Jonesy said. It's a tip. It's a tip.

How much is fifteen per cent?

Jonesy sighed. These were the masters of the universe that the movies had taught us to fear? Merciless, star-faring conquerors who didn't know how to take a shit or figure a tip?

Another cramp, plus a fairly silent fart. It smelled, but not of ether. Thank God for small favors, Thank God for small favors, Jonesy thought. Then, to Mr Gray: Jonesy thought. Then, to Mr Gray: Show me the check. Show me the check.

Jonesy looked at the green slip of paper through his office window.

Leave her a buck and a half And when Mr Gray seemed dubious: And when Mr Gray seemed dubious: This is good advice I'm giving you, my friend. More and she remembers you as the night's big tipper. Less, and she remembers you as a chintz. This is good advice I'm giving you, my friend. More and she remembers you as the night's big tipper. Less, and she remembers you as a chintz.

He sensed Mr Gray checking for the meaning of chintz in chintz in Jonesy's files. Then, without further argument, he left a dollar and two quarters on the table. With that taken care of, he headed for the cash register, which was on the way to the men's room. Jonesy's files. Then, without further argument, he left a dollar and two quarters on the table. With that taken care of, he headed for the cash register, which was on the way to the men's room.

The cop was working his pie - with slightly suspicious slowness, Jonesy thought - and as they passed him, Jonesy felt Mr Gray as an entity (an ever more human entity) dissolve, going out to peek inside the cop's head. Nothing out there now but the redblack cloud, running Jonesy's various maintenance systems.

Quick as a flash, Jonesy grabbed the phone on his desk. For a moment he hesitated, unsure.

just dial 1-800-HENRY, Jonesy thought. Jonesy thought.

For a moment there was nothing . . . and then, in some other somewhere, a phone began to ring.

9

'Pete's idea,' Henry muttered.

Owen, at the wheel of the Humvee (it was huge and it was loud, but it was equipped with oversized snow tires and rode the storm like the QE2 QE2), looked over. Henry was asleep. His glasses had slid down to the end of his nose. His eyelids, now delicately fuzzed with byrus, rippled as the eyeballs beneath them moved. Henry was dreaming. About what? About what? Owen wondered. He supposed he could dip into his new partner's head and have a look, but that seemed perverse. Owen wondered. He supposed he could dip into his new partner's head and have a look, but that seemed perverse.

'Pete's idea,' Henry repeated. 'Pete saw her first.' And he sighed, a sound so tired that Owen felt bad for him. No, he decided, he didn't want any part of what was going on in Henry's head. Another hour to Derry, more if the wind stayed high. Better to just let him sleep.

10

Behind Derry High School is the football field where Richie Grenadeau once strutted his stuff, but Richie is five years in his teenage hero's grave, just another small-town car-crash James Dean. Other heroes have risen, thrown their passes, and moved on. It's not football season now, anyway. It's spring, and on the field there is a gathering of what look like birds - huge red ones with black heads. These mutant crows are laughing and talking as they sit in their folding chairs, but Mr Trask, the principal, has no problem being heard; he's at the podium on the makeshift stage, and he's got the mike.

'One last thing before I dismiss you!' he booms. he booms. 'I won't tell you not to throw your mortarboards at the end of the ceremony, I know from years of experience I might as well be talking to myself on that score-' 'I won't tell you not to throw your mortarboards at the end of the ceremony, I know from years of experience I might as well be talking to myself on that score-'

Laughter, cheers, applause.

'-but I'm telling you to PICK THEM UP AND TURN THEM IN OR YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THEM!'

There are a few boos and some raspberries, Beaver Clarendon's the loudest.

Mr Trask gives them a final surveying look. 'Young men and women, members of the Class of '82, 1 think I speak for the entire faculty when I say I'm proud of you. This concludes rehearsal, so . 'Young men and women, members of the Class of '82, 1 think I speak for the entire faculty when I say I'm proud of you. This concludes rehearsal, so . . .' . .'

The rest is lost, amplification or no amplification; the red crows rise in a gusty flap of nylon, and they fly. Tomorrow at noon they will fly for good; although the three crows laughing and grabassing their way toward the parking lot where Henry's car is parked do not realize it, the childhood phase of their friendship is now only hours from the end. They don't realize it, and that is probably just as well.

Jonesy snatches Henry's mortarboard, slaps it on top of his own, and books for the parking lot.

'Hey, asshole, give that back!' Henry yells, and then he snatches Beaver's. Beav squawks like a chicken and runs after Henry, laughing. So the three of them swoop across the grass and behind the bleachers, graduation robes billowing around their jeans. Jonesy has two hats on his head, the tassels swinging in opposite directions, Henry has one (far too big; it's sitting on his ears), and Beaver runs bareheaded, his long black hair flowing out behind him and a toothpick jutting from his mouth.

Jonesy is looking back as he runs, taunting Henry ('Come on, Mr Basketball, ya run like a girl'), and almost piles into Pete, who is looking at DERRY DOIN'S, the glassed-in notice-board by the north entrance to the parking lot. Pete, who is graduating from nothing but the Junior class this year, grabs Jonesy, bends him backward like a guy doing a tango with some beautiful chick, and kisses him square on the mouth. Both mortarboards tumble off Jonesy's head, and he screams in surprise.

'Queerboy!' Jonesy yells, rubbing frantically at his mouth . . . but he's starting to laugh, too. Pete's an oddity - he'll go along quietly for weeks at a time, Norman Normal, and then he'll break out and do something nutso. Usually the nutso comes out after a couple of beers, but not this afternoon.

'I've always wanted to do that, Gariella,' Pete says sentimentally. 'Now you know how I really feel.'

'Fuckin queerboy, if you gave me the syph, I'll kill you!' Henry arrives, snatches his mortarboard off the grass, and swats Jonesy with it. 'There's grass-stains on this,' Henry says. 'If I have to pay for it, I'll do a lot more than just kiss you, Gariella.'

'Don't make promises you can't keep, fuckwad,' Jonesy says.

'Beautiful Gariella,' Henry says solemnly.

The Beav comes steaming up, puffing around his toothpick. He takes Jonesy's mortarboard, peers into it, and says, 'There's a come-stain in this one. Ain't I seen enough on my own sheets to know?' He draws in a deep breath and bugles to the departing seniors in their Derry-red graduation gowns: 'Gary Jones beats off in his graduation hat! Hey, everybody, listen up, Gary Jones beats off-' 'Gary Jones beats off in his graduation hat! Hey, everybody, listen up, Gary Jones beats off-'