Ralph shrugged. He didn't know, and wasn't sure he cared. Let the forces that were moving them around like pawns on a chessboard - the ones Mr C and Mr L had called the Higher Purpose - worry about that. If Atropos showed up, Ralph would try to yank out the little bald bugger's tongue and strangle him with it. And if that upset somebody's applecart, too goddam bad. He couldn't take responsibility for grand plans and Long-Time business; his job now was to watch out for Lois, who was at risk, and try to stop the carnage that was going to occur not far from here in just a few hours. And who knew? He might even find a little extra time along the way which he could use to try and protect his own partially rejuvenated hide. This was the stuff he had to do, and if the nasty little fuck got in Ralph's way, one of them was going down. If that didn't fit in with the big boys' plans, tough titty.
Lois was picking most of this up from his aura - he could read that in her own when she touched his arm and he turned to look at her.
['What does that mean, Ralph? That you'll try to kill him if he gets in our way?']
He considered this, then nodded.
['Yeah - that's exactly what it means.']
She thought about it, then nodded.
['Ralph?']
He looked at her, eyebrows raised.
['If it needs to be done, I'll help you do it.']
He was absurdly touched by this . . . and at pains to hide the rest of his thinking from her: that the only reason she was still with him at all was so that he could keep a protective eye on her. That thought led him back toward her earrings, but he pushed the image of them away, not wanting her to see - or even suspect - them in his aura.
Lois's thoughts, meanwhile, had gone on in a different, marginally safer, direction.
['Even if we get in and out without meeting him, he'll know someone was there, won't he? He'll probably know who it was, too.']
Ralph couldn't deny it, but didn't see that it mattered much; their options had been narrowed to just this one, at least temporarily. They would take it a step at a time and just keep hoping that when the sun came up tomorrow morning, they would be around to see it. Although, given a choice, I'd probably opt to sleep in, Ralph thought, and a small, wistful grin touched the corners of his mouth. God, it feels like years since I slept in. His mind flashed from there to Carolyn's favorite saying, the one about how it was a long walk back to Eden. It seemed to him right now that Eden might simply be sleeping until noon . . . or maybe a little past.
He took Lois's hand and they started forward along Atropos's trail again.
6
Forty feet east of the cyclone fence marking the edge of the airport, the rusty tracks petered out. Atropos's trail pushed on, however, although not for long; Ralph was quite sure he could see the spot where it ended, and the image of the two of them roped to the spokes of a big wheel recurred. If he was right, Atropos's den was only a stone's throw from where Ed had run into the fat man with the barrels of fertilizer in the back of his pickup truck.
The wind gusted, bringing them a sick, rotten smell from close by, and, from a little further away, the voice of Faye Chapin, haranguing someone on his favorite subject: '. . . what I always say! Mah-jongg is like chess, chess is like life, so if you can play either of those games -' The wind dropped again. Ralph could still hear Faye's voice if he strained his ears, but he had lost the individual words. That was all right, though; he had heard the lecture often enough to know pretty much how it went.
['Ralph, that stink is awful! It's him, isn't it?']
He nodded, but didn't think Lois saw him. She held his hand tightly in hers, looking straight ahead with wide eyes. The splotchy track which had begun at the doors of the Civic Center ended at the base of a drunkenly leaning dead oak tree two hundred feet away. The cause of both the tree's death and its final leaning position was clear: one side of the venerable relic had been peeled like a banana by a glancing stroke of lightning. The cracks and crenellations and bulges of its gray bark seemed to make the shapes of half-buried, silently screaming faces, and the tree spread its nude branches against the sky like grim ideograms . . . ones which bore - at least in Ralph's imagination - an uncomfortable resemblance to the Japanese ideograms which meant kamikaze. The bolt which had killed the tree hadn't succeeded in knocking it over, but it had certainly done its best. The part of its extensive root-system which faced the airport had been yanked right out of the ground. These roots had extended beneath the chainlink fence and pulled a section of it upward and outward in a bell shape that made Ralph think, for the first time in years, of a childhood acquaintance named Charles Engstrom.
'Don't you play with Chuckie,' Ralph's mother used to tell him. 'He's a dirty boy.' Ralph didn't know if Chuckie was a dirty boy or not, but he was fruitcrackers, no question about that. Chuckie Engstrom liked to hide behind the tree in his front yard with a long tree-branch which he called his Peekie Wand. When a woman in a full skirt passed, Chuckie would tiptoe after her, extending the Peekie Wand under the hem and then lifting. Quite often he got to check out the color of the woman's underwear (the color of ladies' underwear held great fascination for Chuckie) before she realized what was going on and chased the wildly cackling lad back to his house, threatening to tell his mother. The airport fence, pulled out and up by the old oak's roots, reminded Ralph of the way the skirts of Chuckie's victims had looked when he started to raise them with the Peekie Wand.
['Ralph?']
He looked at her.
['Who's Piggy Juan? And why are you thinking about him now?']
Ralph burst out laughing.
['Did you see that in my aura?']
['I guess so - I don't really know anymore. Who is he?']
['Tell you another time. Come on.']
He took her hand and they walked slowly toward the oak tree where Atropos's trail ended, into the thickening odor of wild decay that was his scent.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
* * *
1
They stood at the base of the oak, looking down. Lois was gnawing obsessively on her lower lip.
['Do we have to go down there, Ralph? Do we really?']
['Yes.']
['But why? What are we supposed to do? Take something he stole? Kill him? What?']
Other than retrieve Joe's comb and Lois's earrings, he didn't know . . . but he felt certain he would know, that they both would, when the time came.
['I think for now we better just keep moving, Lois.']
The lightning had acted like a strong hand, shoving the tree violently toward the east and opening a large hole at the bottom on its western side. To a man or woman with Short-Time vision, that hole would undoubtedly look dark - and maybe a little scary, with its crumbly sides and barely glimpsed roots squirming in the deep shadows like snakes - but otherwise not very unusual.
A kid with a good imagination might see more, Ralph thought. That dark space at the bottom of the tree might make him think of pirate treasure . . . outlaw hideouts . . . troll-holes . . .
But Ralph didn't think even an imaginative Short-Time kid would have been able to see the dim red glow filtering up from beneath the tree, or realize that those squirming roots were actually rough rungs leading down to some unknown (and undoubtedly unpleasant) place.
No - even an imaginative kid wouldn't see those things . . . but he or she might sense them.
Right. And after doing so, one with any brains would turn and run as if all the demons of hell were in hot pursuit. As would he and Lois, if they had any sense at all. Except for Lois's earrings. Except for Joe Wyzer's comb. Except for his own lost place in the Purpose. And, of course, except for Helen (and possibly Nat) and the two thousand other people who were going to be at the Civic Center tonight. Lois was right. They were supposed to do something, and if they backed out now, it was a something that would remain forever done-bun-undone.
And those are the ropes, he thought. The ropes the powers that be use to tie us poor, muddled Short-Time creatures to their wheel.
He now visualized Clotho and Lachesis through a bright lens of hate, and he thought that if the two of them had been here right now, they would have exchanged one of their uneasy looks and then taken a quick step or two away.
And they would be right to do that, he thought. Very right.
['Ralph? What's wrong? Why are you so angry?']
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.
['It's nothing. Come on. Let's go before we lose our nerve.']
She looked at him a moment longer, then nodded. And when Ralph sat down and poked his legs into the gaping, root-lined mouth at the foot of the tree, she was right beside him.
2
Ralph slid beneath the tree on his back, holding his free hand over his face to keep dirt from crumbling into his open eyes. He tried not to flinch as root-knuckles caressed the side of his neck and prodded the small of his back. The smell under the tree was a revolting monkeyhouse aroma that made his gorge rise. He was able to go on kidding himself that he would get used to it until he was all the way into the hole under the oak, and then the kidding stopped. He raised himself on one elbow, feeling smaller roots digging at his scalp and dangling flaps of bark tickling his cheeks, and ejected as much of his breakfast as still remained in the holding-tank. He could hear Lois doing the same thing on his left.
A terrible, woozy faintness went rolling through his head like a breaking wave. The stench was so thick he was almost eating it, and he could see the red stuff they had followed to this nightmare place under the tree all over his hands and arms. Just looking at this stuff had been bad; now he found himself taking a bath in it, for God's sake.
Something groped for his hand and he almost gave in to panic before realizing it was Lois. He laced his fingers through hers.
['Ralph, come up a little bit! It's better! You can breathe!']
He understood what she meant at once, and had to restrain himself, haul himself down, at the last moment. If he hadn't, he would have shot up the ladder of perception like a rocket under full thrust.
The world wavered, and suddenly there seemed to be a little more light in this stinking hole . . . and a little more room, too. The smell didn't go away, but it became bearable. Now it was like being in a small closed tent full of people with dirty feet and sweaty armpits - not nice, but something you could live with, at least for awhile.
Ralph suddenly imagined the face of a pocket-watch, complete with hands that were moving too fast. It was better without the stench trying to pour down his throat and gag him, but this was still a dangerous place to be - suppose they came out of here tomorrow morning, with nothing left of the Civic Center but a smoking hole on Main Street? And it could happen. Keeping track of time down here - short time, long time, or all-time - was impossible. He glanced at his watch, but it was meaningless. He should have set it earlier, but he had forgotten.
Let it go, Ralph - you can't do anything about it, so let it go.
He tried, and as he did it occurred to him that Old Dor had been a hundred per cent correct on the day Ed had crashed into Mr West Side Gardeners' pickup truck; it was better not to mess into Long-Time business. And yet here they were, the world's oldest Peter Pan and the world's oldest Wendy, sliding under a magic tree into some slimy underworld neither one of them wanted to see.
Lois was looking at him, her pale face lit with that sick red glow, her expressive eyes full of fright. He saw dark threads on her chin and realized it was blood. She had quit just nibbling at her lower lip and had begun taking bites out of it.
['Ralph, are you all right?']
['I get to crawl under an old oak tree with a pretty girl and you even have to ask? I'm fine, Lois. But I think we better hurry.']
['All right.']
He felt around below him and placed his foot on a gnarled root-knuckle. It took his weight and he slid down the stony slope, squeezing beneath another root and holding Lois around the waist. Her skirt skidded up to her thighs and Ralph thought again, briefly, about Chuckie Engstrom and his Peekie Wand. He was both amused and exasperated to see Lois was trying to pull the skirt back down.
['I know that a lady tries to keep her skirt down whenever possible, but I think the rule goes by the boards when you're sliding down troll staircases under old oak trees. Okay?']
She gave him an embarrassed, frightened little smile.
['If I'd known what we were going to be doing, I would have worn slacks. I thought we were just going to the hospital.']
If I'd known what we were going to be doing, Ralph thought, I would have cashed in my bonds, developing softness in the market or not, and had us on a plane to Rio, my dear.
He felt around with his other foot, very aware that if he fell, he was probably going to end up in a place far beyond the reach of Derry Rescue. Just above his eyes, a reddish worm poked out of the earth, dribbling little crumbles of dirt down on Ralph's forehead.
For what seemed like an eternity he felt nothing, and then his foot found smooth wood - not a root this time, but something like a real step. He slid down, still holding Lois around the waist, and waited to see if the thing he was standing on would hold or snap under their combined weight.
It held, and it was wide enough for both of them. Ralph looked down and saw that it was the top step of a narrow staircase which curved down into the red-tinged dark. It had been built for - and perhaps by - a creature that was a lot shorter than they were, making it necessary for them to hunch, but it was still better than the nightmare of the last few moments.
Ralph looked at the ragged wedge of daylight above them, his eyes gazing out of his dirt-and sweat-streaked face with an expression of dumb longing. Daylight had never looked so sweet or so distant. He turned back to Lois and nodded to her. She squeezed his hand and nodded back. Bending over, cringing each time a dangling root touched their necks or backs, they started down the staircase.
3
The descent seemed endless. The red light grew brighter, the stench of Atropos grew thicker, and Ralph was aware that they were both 'going up' as they went down; it was either that or be flattened by the smell. He continued telling himself that they were doing what they had to do, and that there must be a timekeeper on an operation this big - someone who would give them a poke if and when the schedule got too tight for comfort - but he kept worrying, just the same. Because there might not be a timekeeper, or an ump, or a team of refs in zebra-striped shirts. All bets are off, Clotho had said.
Just as Ralph was starting to wonder if the stairs went all the way down into hell itself, they ended. A short stone-lined corridor, no more than forty inches high and twenty feet long, led to an arched doorway. Beyond it, that red glow pulsed and flared like the reflected glow of an open oven.
['Come on, Lois, but be ready for anything. Be ready for him.']
She nodded, hitched at her wayward slip again, then walked beside him up the narrow passage. Ralph kicked something that wasn't a stone and bent over to pick it up. It was a red plastic cylinder, wider at one end than at the other. After a moment he realized what it was: a jump-rope handle. Three-six-nine, hon, the goose drank wine.
Don't butt into what doesn't concern you, Short-Time, Atropos had said, but he had butted in, and not just because of what the little bald doctors called ka, either. He had gotten involved because what Atropos was up to was his concern, whatever the little creep might think to the contrary. Derry was his town, Lois Chasse was his friend, and Ralph found within himself a sincere desire to make Doc #3 sorry he'd ever seen Lois's diamond earrings.
He flipped the jump-rope handle away and started walking again. A moment later he and Lois passed under the arch and simply stood there, staring into Atropos's underground apartment. With their wide eyes and linked hands, they looked more like children in a fairy-tale than ever - not Peter Pan and Wendy now but Hansel and Gretel, coming upon the witch's candy house after days spent wandering in the trackless forest.
4
['Oh, Ralph. Oh my God, Ralph . . . do you see?']
['Shhh, Lois. Shhh.']
Directly ahead of them was a small, mean chamber which seemed to be a combination kitchen and bedroom. The room was simultaneously sordid and creepy. Standing in the center was a low round table which Ralph thought was the amputated top half of a barrel. The remains of a meal - some gray, rancid gruel that looked like liquefied brains congealing in a chipped soup tureen - stood on it. There was a single dirty folding chair. To the right of the table was a primitive commode which consisted of a rusty steel drum with a toilet-seat balanced on top of it. The smell rising from this was incredibly foul. The room's only decoration was a full-length brass-bordered mirror on one wall, its reflective surface so age-darkened that the Ralph and Lois captured within it looked as if they might have been floating in ten or twelve feet of water.
To the left of the mirror was a stark sleeping accommodation which consisted of a filthy mattress and a burlap sack stuffed with straw or feathers. Both pillow and mattress glowed and raved with the nightsweats of the creature who used them. The dreams inside that burlap pillow would drive me insane, Ralph thought.
Somewhere, God only knew how much further under the earth, water was dripping hollowly.
On the far side of the apartment was another, higher arch, through which they could see a jumbled, surreal storage area. Ralph actually blinked two or three times to try to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing.
This is the place, all right, he thought. Whatever we came to find, it's here.
Lois began to drift toward this second arch as if hypnotized. Her mouth was quivering with dismay, but her eyes were full of helpless curiosity - it was the expression, he was quite sure, that must have been on the face of Bluebeard's wife when she had used the key which unlocked the door to her husband's forbidden room. Ralph was suddenly sure that Atropos was lurking just inside that arch with his rusty scalpel poised. He hurried after Lois and stopped her just before she could step through. He grasped her upper arm, then put a finger to his lips and shook his head at her before she could speak.
He hunkered down with the fingers of one hand tented on the packed dirt floor, looking like a sprinter awaiting the crack of the starter's gun. Then he launched himself through the arch (relishing the eager response of his body even at this moment), hitting on his shoulder and rolling. His feet struck a cardboard box and knocked it over, spilling out a jumble of stuff: mismatched gloves and socks, a couple of old paperbacks, a pair of Bermuda shorts, a screwdriver with smears of maroon stuff - maybe paint, maybe blood - on its steel shaft.