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But where? Where was it? The bedroom door opened. Sadie looked in. “Jake? Are you asleep?” “No,” I said. “Just lying quiet.” “Did you remember anything?” “No,” I said. “Sorry.” “There’s still time.” “Yes. New things are coming back to me every day.” “Honey, that was Deke. There’s a bug going around school and he’s caught a good case of it. He asked if I could come in tomorrow and Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday, too.” “Go in,” I said. “If you don’t, he’ll try to do it himself. And he’s not a young guy anymore.” In my mind, four words flashed on and off like bar neon: THE WORD OF AL, THE WORD OF AL, THE WORD OF AL. She sat down next to me on the bed. “Are you sure?” “I’ll be fine. Plenty of company, too. DAVIN comes in tomorrow, remember.” DAVIN was Dallas Area Visiting Nurses. Their main job in my case was to make sure I wasn’t raving, which might indicate that my brain was bleeding after all. “Right. Nine o’clock. It’s on the calendar, in case you forget. And Dr. Ellerton—” “Coming for lunch. I remember.” “Good, Jake. That’s good.” “He said he’d bring sandwiches. And milkshakes. Wants to fatten me up.” “You need fattening up.” “Plus therapy on Wednesday. Leg-torture in the morning, arm-torture in the afternoon.” “I don’t like leaving you so close to . . . you know.” “If something occurs to me, I’ll call you, Sadie.” She took my hand and bent close enough so I could smell her perfume and the faint aroma of tobacco on her breath. “Do you promise?” “Yes. Of course.” “I’ll be back on Wednesday night at the latest. If Deke can’t come in on Thursday, the library will just have to stay closed.” “I’ll be fine.” She kissed me lightly, started out of the room, then turned back. “I almost hope Deke’s right and this whole thing is a delusion. I can’t bear the idea that we know and still might not be able to stop it. That we might just be sitting in the living room and watching on television when somebody—” “I’ll remember,” I said. “Will you, Jake?” “I have to.” She nodded, but even with the shades drawn, I could read the doubt on her face. “We can still have supper before I go. You close your eyes and let that pill do its work. Get some sleep.” I closed my eyes, sure I wouldn’t sleep. And that was okay, because I needed to think about the Word of Al. After a little while I could smell something cooking. It smelled good. When I’d first come out of the hospital, still puking or shitting every ten minutes, all smells had revolted me. Now things were better. I began to drift. I could see Al sitting across from me in one of the diner booths, his paper cap tilted over his left eyebrow. Photos of smalltown bigwigs looked down at us, but Harry Dunning was no longer on the wall. I had saved him. Perhaps the second time I’d saved him from Vietnam, as well. There was no way to be sure. Still holding you back, isn’t he, buddy? Al asked.
Yes. He still is. But you’re close now. Not close enough. I have no idea where I put that goddam notebook of yours. You put it someplace safe. Does that narrow it down any? I started to say no, then thought: The Word of Al is safe. Safe. Because— I opened my eyes, and for the first time in what felt like weeks, a big smile creased my face. It was in a safe deposit box. The door opened. “Are you hungry? I kept it warm.” “Huh?” “Jake, you’ve been asleep for over two hours.” I sat up and swung my legs onto the floor. “Then let’s eat.”
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Thank you for downloading this Scri
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It is virtually not assimilable to
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11/22/63
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uddy who had demonstrated the true
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PART 1 WATERSHED MOMENT
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those little squiggles he put on th
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3 Al’s Diner was housed in a silv
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“Long story short, I went to a do
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with all that stupid talk about Al
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toward him. He leaned on the stack
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CHAPTER 2 1 I took another step for
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where all the women have big bazonk
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a style I recognized (from old movi
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off the rest of my beeyah and stood
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narrow lane unless they happened to
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get-together?’” “Always the s
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CHAPTER 3 1 The gnome did indeed ha
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But I sat down. 3 “Do you know th
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—” He started coughing again, t
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down at the backs—that he didn’
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I mean.” “Would it have to be k
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over again. “I plugged her name i
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Stephanie Routhier.” “Just anot
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CHAPTER 4 1 Al let me help him into
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student work, no teacher does—you
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was trying to crawl under the bed.
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eyebrows even at a convenience stor
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my sorrow. But he’s not dead wher
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PART 2 THE JANITOR’S FATHER
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hunched his thin shoulders all the
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Sabattus? I think that’s it. Do y
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the bank. That made me remember the
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6 I got the clothes Al had recommen
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The taxi driver was a fat man who w
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CHAPTER 6 1 The same chain-smoking
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monocle in one eye and a school pen
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Lemkes, some of them siblings, most
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crocodile. If it keeps up, this bur
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Late that afternoon, hopes dashed (
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clasped. He stoops a little and kic
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seconds, maybe. It was the sort of
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and saw Derry hulking on the west b
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CHAPTER 7 1 How should I tell you a
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He’s a nice man. Always joking ar
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4 On the following Tuesday, I rente
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passing off fantasies like the murd
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oom from the large table where Dunn
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Chaz saw me looking. “Frank knows
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10 I got used to the planes coming
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CHAPTER 8 1 In the weeks before Hal
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One of the people I spoke to was Do
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Trust me on the sickness part. I kn
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smoke, and eye-watering chlorine. T
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Had Tugga given him shit about that
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At first that didn’t compute. The
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That’s a laugh. You want to hear
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If I told him just the right way—
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here like a rabbit in a hole.”
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and dislocated her shoulder as well
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He smiled and closed his eyes. 14 I
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Chevron. I crossed the street towar
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PART 3 LIVING IN THE PAST
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again. “You look like you’ve lo
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throat like a playing card in the s
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6 I made it home, and this time it
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to say. But halfway through the fou
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Sorry, buddy, couldn’t wait. Too
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CHAPTER 10 1 I crossed the employee
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3 I drove up the Mile-A-Minute High
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He and the large lady (Frati looked
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athroom medicine cabinet, and my ne
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stop in spite of a green light, my
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13 There was plenty about the World
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“It’s a simple enough assignmen
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of the land around Bowie Hill, wher
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kind of loony I am, Cullum will be
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CHAPTER 12 1 I took US 1 south. I a
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gossip in the billiard parlor next
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eal BS degree), I heard a psycholog
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protective cover—7 DAYS ONLY, BE
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You’d put your foot on it and cru
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father in his nakedness, and God cu
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his father’s gearshift. I’d jer
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“You come on back around six. Tha
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certain students, and at the librar
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19 We’re going to take another le
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CHAPTER 13 1 It was seven forty-fiv
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Gorgeous girl? Check. Blonde? Check
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was thinking of nothing but this bi
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Three weeks later, just before scho
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“Deke first popped the question a
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working on either of my manuscripts
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I want you to meet. This is—” S
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“He seems to be bearing up,” El
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9 At the game, practically everybod
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PART 4 SADIE AND THE GENERAL
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y a trim little man who wore horn-r
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Dunning, but I can’t say for sure
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“Yes, ma’am.” “That ain’t
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would be seven or eight years from
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The Stroll was the first step Chris
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my Ford steamed up. Then she pushed
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CHAPTER 15 1 At ten o’clock on th
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the grass. Now she picked up a Tupp
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“But keep them handy, honey.” A
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She smiled and kissed the corner of
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“I love you, too. No maybe or mis
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little hysterically. “Mama probab
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tighter, as if hugging could make i
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her jeans, then fumbled in the brea
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“Sadie? Are we all right?” “Y
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“I’ll always listen.” But she
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“The play, then. At least do the
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ever came right out and said so. An
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8 Everybody in town did turn out, a
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was looking for a cheap rent becaus
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“I won’t. Not anymore. So don
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CHAPTER 17 1 A few days before the
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It was the last day of school. The
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you care about it, when you feel li
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something on it. She took it back a
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“I was stupid to come to Fort Wor
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closest thing to fireworks came jus
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I looked at my watch and said, “I
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13 It was almost dark when I got to
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students were wont to say, but West
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“Will you give us a minute?” Ro
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June. I thought Marina might point
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I fought against the temptation to
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one that wasn’t swollen). There w
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I wondered if I were mad. Surely th
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14 There was a moment of silence lo
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good dancer.” “Then let’s go
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“What do you want?” the younger
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ack. I listened to the comment twic
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“I sort of like Kennedy,” Lee s
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ut no takers. Until the Oswalds mov
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Browder Street coffee shop. There t
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cocksuckers right now!” There wer
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I ignored her. This wasn’t the fi
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assumption that people were going t
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She looked at me doubtfully, turned
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CHAPTER 20 1 So in the end it only
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“That turkey looks absolutely won
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it. Then he slugged her. She fell d
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8 The day after Sadie’s Boxing Da
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Walker closed his eyes and raised h
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2 That was on a Friday afternoon, a
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Marina invited her in. I waited unt
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Lee’s footfalls crossed above my
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I looked down and saw a fresh drag-
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I liked George de Mohrenschildt bet
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CHAPTER 22 1 The afternoon of April
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It made a rough trail from the livi
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light, I will kill this bitch and t
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casserole delivery.’ And raise th
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Her eyes widened. She was looking o
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CHAPTER 23 From the Dallas Morning
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“I don’t think I’m quite read
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more. “When this young woman’s
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him wink. Marina and Jeanne lapsed
Page 327 and 328: then taking a bus or train. And if
Page 329 and 330: eason for it.” 9 She wasn’t ove
Page 331 and 332: I moved into Deke’s Spanish-style
Page 333 and 334: Hunch-think: that again. I paid the
Page 335 and 336: lock?” “Of course not. Although
Page 337 and 338: “Only one problem. They’re aski
Page 339 and 340: “What’s wrong?” she asked.
Page 341 and 342: Ellen took Sadie—who was exhauste
Page 343 and 344: “Yes, honey.” “Can you predic
Page 345 and 346: his house, and I’d attended a few
Page 347 and 348: DALLAS’S WHITE KNIGHT! According
Page 349 and 350: CHAPTER 25 1 I stayed with Sadie on
Page 351 and 352: There was silence on the line while
Page 353 and 354: He got in and shut the door. “Abo
Page 355 and 356: Gavery was putting out fresh loaves
Page 357 and 358: She blushed, except for around the
Page 359 and 360: “I don’t think that would work,
Page 361 and 362: Tiger bounded happily to meet him,
Page 363 and 364: “Yes!” Sadie chirruped, resetti
Page 365 and 366: For a moment as I sat there in my c
Page 367 and 368: was me, panting. “I hope he fucki
Page 369 and 370: I fumbled the .38 out of my pocket
Page 371 and 372: “Puddentane,” I said. “Ask me
Page 373 and 374: murder his whole family.” She loo
Page 375 and 376: I shook my head. “Honey, you’ve
Page 377: We were coming into Dallas now. I m
Page 381 and 382: “That’s it, and I will.” I ha
Page 383 and 384: asked after Deke, wished her a good
Page 385 and 386: again before I got out of his sight
Page 387 and 388: (Parkland) while O works. Rifle sto
Page 389 and 390: een a success. According to newscas
Page 391 and 392: November 20, 1963 Dear Sadie, I hav
Page 393 and 394: play before the curtain goes up on
Page 395 and 396: CHAPTER 28 1 11/22/63 (Friday) I sa
Page 397 and 398: Lee’s murder—we’d simply have
Page 399 and 400: Cadillac Street. Only you knew that
Page 401 and 402: Sadie was standing on the curb and
Page 403 and 404: laid hold of the chrome doorhandle
Page 405 and 406: scraped her knees. “What time is
Page 407 and 408: I hurried to it and tried the passe
Page 409 and 410: “Because it was a girl’s,” I
Page 411 and 412: stacked book cartons. The overhead
Page 413 and 414: PART 6 THE GREEN CARD MAN
Page 415 and 416: exactitude because there was no clo
Page 417 and 418: happened, Mr. Amberson. I won’t s
Page 419 and 420: had to stretch my savings. When I g
Page 421 and 422: “—but he was a world-class fuck
Page 423 and 424: that dreamlike conversation while t
Page 425 and 426: something. He would pass it on to E
Page 427 and 428: “Where you did exactly what?”
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I wrote carefully, but it didn’t
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He offered me the three tickets lik
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CHAPTER 30 1 I stepped off my final
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“They’re saying seven thousand
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“Who are you?” I asked. “And
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“Buying meat over and over again
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painted on the remains of the floor
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good-sized rock in it. That explain
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CHAPTER 31 1 He still lived on Godd
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“Ayuh. That was taken on our twen
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Sure it was. Maybe a Police Special
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“Yes.” The cannula had come ask
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The world well lost for love—was
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Here’s another thing I do know. T
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egin to come. They ache, they burn.
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ex-wife for months. The staff at De
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arber shop is gone, and the Cities
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gone, you can never get it back. Pa
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I’d put the probability at ninety
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Jack, I’m sure you’d understand
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10. If you could pick any other per
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it’s just one of the places where
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20. “In the Mood,” Glenn Miller
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top edge, or just pat back into the
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for 10 minutes. Slide a thin knife
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© SHANE LEONARD STEPHEN KING is th
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The Colorado Kid Cell Lisey’s Sto
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We hope you enjoyed reading this Sc
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