Doctor Sleep (The Shining #2)(112)

“Abra?” That was Mrs. Deane. “It’s your turn, honey.”

If she had to keep this up for long, she’d have a nervous breakdown. It would have been so much easier at home, by herself. She had even floated the idea to her father, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Not even with Mr. Freeman watching over her.

She used a U on the board to make POUND.

“Thanks, Abba-Doofus, I was going there,” Emma said. She turned the board and began to study it with beady-eyed final-exam concentration that would go on for another five minutes, at least. Maybe even ten. Then she would make something totally lame, like RAP or PAD.

Abra returned to the Riv. What her father was saying was sort of interesting, although she knew more about it than he thought she did.

(Abby? Are you)

6

“Abby? Are you listening?”

“Sure,” Dan said. I just had to take a little time-out to play a word. “This is interesting.”

“Anyway, Momo was living in Manhattan at that time, and when Alessandra came to see her that June, she was pregnant.”

“Pregnant with Mom?”

“That’s right, Abba-Doo.”

“So Mom was born out of wedlock?”

Total surprise, and maybe the tiniest bit overdone. Dan, in the peculiar position of both participating and eavesdropping on the discussion, now realized something he found touching and sweetly comic: Abra knew perfectly well that her mother was illegitimate. Lucy had told her the year before. What Abra was doing now, strange but true, was protecting her father’s innocence.

“That’s right, honey. But it’s no crime. Sometimes people get . . . I don’t know . . . confused. Family trees can grow strange branches, and there’s no reason for you not to know that.”

“Gramma Sandy died a couple of months after Mom was born, right? In a car wreck.”

“That’s right. Momo was babysitting Lucy for the afternoon, and ended up raising her. That’s the reason they’re so close, and why Momo getting old and sick has been so hard on your mom.”

“Who was the man who got Gramma Sandy pregnant? Did she ever say?”

“Tell you what,” Dave said, “that’s an interesting question. If Alessandra ever told, Momo kept it to herself.” He pointed ahead, at the lane cutting through the woods. “Look, honey, almost there!”

They were passing a sign reading CLOUD GAP PICNIC AREA, 2 MI.

7

Crow’s party made a brief stop in Anniston to gas up the Winnebago, but on lower Main Street, at least a mile from Richland Court. As they left town—Snake now at the wheel and an epic called Swinging Sorority Sisters on the DVD player—Barry called Jimmy Numbers to his bed.

“You guys got to step it up a notch,” Barry said. “They’re almost there. It’s a place called Cloud Gap. Did I tell you that?”

“Yeah, you did.” Jimmy almost patted Barry’s hand, then thought better of it.

“They’ll be spreading their picnic in no time. That’s when you should take them, while they’re sat down and eating.”

“We’ll get it done,” Jimmy promised. “And in time to twist enough steam out of her to help you. Rose can’t object to that.”

“She never would,” Barry agreed, “but it’s too late for me. Maybe not for you, though.”

“Huh?”

“Look at your arms.”

Jimmy did, and saw the first spots blooming on the soft white skin below his elbows. Red death. His mouth went dry at the sight of them.

“Oh Christ, here I go,” Barry moaned, and suddenly his clothes were collapsing in on a body that was no longer there. Jimmy saw him swallow . . . and then his throat was gone.

“Move,” Nut said. “Let me at him.”

“Yeah? What are you going to do? He’s cooked.”

Jimmy went up front and dropped into the passenger seat, which Crow had vacated. “Take Route 14-A around Frazier,” he said. “That’s quicker than going through the downtown. You’ll connect with the Saco River Road—”

Snake tapped the GPS. “I got all that programmed. You think I’m blind or just stupid?”

Jimmy barely heard her. All he knew was that he could not die. He was too young to die, especially with all the incredible computer developments just over the horizon. And the thought of cycling, the crushing pain every time he came back . . .

No. No. Absolutely not. Impossible.

Late-afternoon light slanted in through the ’Bago’s big front windows. Beautiful autumn sunlight. Fall was Jimmy’s favorite season, and he intended to still be alive and traveling with the True Knot when it came around again. And again. And again. Luckily, he was with the right bunch to get this done. Crow Daddy was brave, resourceful, and cunning. The True had been in tough spots before. He would bring them through this one.

“Watch for the sign pointing to the Cloud Gap picnic area. Don’t miss it. Barry says they’re almost there.”

“Jimmy, you’re giving me a headache,” Snake said. “Go sit down. We’ll be there in an hour, maybe less.”

“Goose it,” Jimmy Numbers said.

Snakebite Andi grinned and did so.

They were just turning onto the Saco River Road when Barry the Chink cycled out, leaving only his clothes. They were still warm from the fever that had baked him.