Song of Susannah (55 page)

Took my usual walk this afternoon, and tonight I took Fred Hauser with me to the AA meeting in Fryeburg. On the way home he asked me to sponsor him and I said yes; I think he’s finally getting serious about sobering up. Good for him. Anyhow, he got talking about the so-called “Walk-Ins.” He says there are more of them around the Seven
Towns than ever, and all sorts of folks are gossiping about them.

“How come I never hear anything, then?” I asked him. To which I got no answer but an extremely funny look. I kept prodding, and finally Fred sez,

“People don’t like to talk about them around you, Steve, because there have been two dozen reported on Turtleback Lane in the last 8 months and
you
claim not to have seen a single one.”

To me this seemed like a
non sequitur
and I made no reply. It wasn’t until after the meeting—and after I’d dropped my new pigeon off—that I realized what he was saying: people don’t talk about the “Walk-Ins” around me because they think that in some crazy way I’M RESPONSIBLE. I thought I was pretty well used to being “America’s boogeyman,” but this is actually sort of outrageous . . .

January 2, 1999 (Boston)

Owen and I are at the Hyatt Harborside tonight, and head off to Florida tomorrow. (Tabby and I are talking about buying a place there but haven’t told the kids. I mean, they’re only 27, 25 and 21—maybe when they’re old enough to understand such things, ha-ha.) Earlier we met Joe and saw a film called
Hurlyburly
, from the play by David Rabe. Very odd. Speaking of odd, I had some sort of New Year’s Night nightmare before leaving Maine. Can’t remember exactly what it was, but when I woke up this morning I’d written two things in my dream-book. One was
Baby Mordred, like something out of
a Chas Addams cartoon
. That I sort of understand; it must refer to Susannah’s baby in the
Dark Tower
stories. It’s the other thing that puzzles me. It says
6/19/99, O Discordia
.

Discordia also sounds like something out of the
DT
stories, but it’s not anything I have invented. As for 6/19/99, that’s a date, right? Meaning what? June 19th of this year. Tabby and I should be back at the Turtleback Lane house by then, but so far as I can remember it’s not anybody’s birthday.

Maybe it’s the date I’m going to meet my first walk-in!

June 12, 1999

It’s wonderful to be back at the lake!

I’ve decided to take 10 days off, then finally return to work on the how-to-write book. I’m curious about
Hearts in Atlantis
; will folks want to know if Bobby Garfield’s friend Ted Brautigan plays a part in the
Tower
saga? The truth is I really don’t know the answer to that. In any case, readership of the
Tower
stories has fallen off a lot lately—the figures are really disappointing, compared to that of my other books (except for
Rose Madder
, which was a real tank-job, at least in the sales sense). But it doesn’t matter, at least to me, and if the series ever gets done, sales may go up.

Tabby and I had another argument about my walking route; she asked me again to quit going out on the main road. Also she asked me “Is the wind blowing yet?” Meaning am I thinking about the next
Dark Tower
story. I said no, commala-come-come, the tale has not begun. But it will, and there’s a dance called
the
commala
in it. That’s the one thing I see clearly: Roland dancing. Why, or for whom, I don’t know.

Anyway, I asked T. why she wanted to know about the Dark Tower and she said, “You’re safer when you’re with the gunslingers.”

Joking, I suppose, but an
odd
joke for T. Not much like her.

June 17, 1999

Talked with Rand Holston and Mark Carliner tonight. They both sound excited about moving on from
Storm of the Century
to
Rose Red
(or
Kingdom Hospital
), but either one would fill my plate up again.

I dreamed of my walk last night & woke up crying.
The Tower will fall
, I thought.
O Discordia, the world grows dark
.

????

Headline from the Portland
Press-Herald,
June 18, 1999:

“WALK-IN” PHENOMENON IN WESTERN MAINE CONTINUES TO RESIST EXPLANATION

June 19, 1999

This is like one of those times when all the planets line up, except in this case it’s my family all lined up here on Turtleback Lane. Joe and his family arrived around noon; their little boy is really cute. Say true! Sometimes I look in the mirror and say,
“You are a grandfather.”
And the Steve in the
mirror just laughs, because the idea is so ridiculous. The Steve in the mirror knows I’m still a college sophomore, going to classes and protesting the war in Viet Nam by day, drinking beer down at Pat’s Pizza with Flip Thompson and George McLeod by night. As for my grandson, the beautiful Ethan? He just tugs on the balloon tied to his toe and laughs.

Daughter Naomi and son Owen got here late last night. We had a great Father’s Day dinner; people saying things to me that were so nice I had to check to make sure I wasn’t dead! God, I’m lucky to have family, lucky to have more stories to tell, lucky to still be alive. The worst thing to happen this week, I hope, will be my wife’s bed collapsing under the weight of our son and daughter-in-law—the idiots were wrestling on it.

You know what? I’ve been thinking of going back to Roland’s story after all. As soon as I finish the book on writing (
On Writing
would actually not be a bad title—it’s simple and to the point). But right now the sun is shining, the day is beautiful, and what I’m going to do is take a walk.

More later, maybe.

From the Portland Sunday
Telegram,
June 20, 1999:

STEPHEN KING
DIES NEAR
LOVELL HOME

POPULAR MAINE WRITER
KILLED WHILE TAKING
AFTERNOON WALK
INSIDER CLAIMS MAN
DRIVING LETHAL VAN
“TOOK EYES OFF THE ROAD”
AS HE APPROACHED KING
ON ROUTE 7

By Ray Routhier

LOVELL, ME
. (Exclusive) Maine’s most popular author was struck and killed by a van while walking near his summer home yesterday afternoon. The van was driven by Bryan Smith of Fryeburg. According to sources close to the case, Smith has admitted that he “took his eyes off the road” when one of his Rottweilers got out of the back of the van and began nosing into a cooler behind the driver’s seat.

“I never even saw him,” Smith is reported to have said shortly after the collision, which took place on what locals call Slab City Hill.

King, author of such popular novels as
It, ’Salem’s Lot, The Shining
, and
The Stand
, was taken to Northern Cumberland Memorial Hospital in Bridgton, where he was pronounced dead at 6:02 PM Saturday evening. He was 52 years old.

A hospital source said the cause of death was extensive head injuries. King’s family, which had gathered in part to celebrate Father’s Day, is in seclusion tonight . . .

Commala-come-come
,

The battle’s now begun!

And all the foes of men and rose

Rise with the setting sun.

*
Constant Readers

I’d once more like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of Robin Furth, who read this novel in manuscript—and those preceding it—with great and sympathetic attention to detail. If this increasingly complex tale hangs together, Robin should get most of the credit. And if you don’t believe it, check out her
Dark Tower
concordance, which makes fascinating reading in and of itself.

Thanks are also due to Chuck Verrill, who has edited the final five novels in the Tower cycle, and to the three publishers, two large and one small, who cooperated to make this massive project a reality: Robert Wiener (Donald M. Grant, Publisher), Susan Petersen Kennedy and Pamela Dorman (Viking), Susan Moldow and Nan Graham (Scribner). Special thanks to Agent Moldow, whose irony and bravery have saved many a bleak day. There are others, plenty of them, but I’m not going to annoy you with the whole list. After all, this ain’t the fucking Academy Awards, is it?

Certain geographical details in this book and in the concluding novel of the Tower cycle have been fictionalized. The real people mentioned in these pages have been used in a fictional way. And to the best of my knowledge, there were never coin-op storage lockers in the World Trade Center.

As for you, Constant Reader . . .

One more turn of the path, and then we reach the clearing.

Come along with me, will ya not?

Stephen King

May 28, 2003

(Tell God thank ya.)

Photo by David King

Photo by Tabitha King

STEPHEN KING
is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are
From a Buick 8, Everything’s Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Bag of Bones,
and the screenplay
Storm of the Century.
His acclaimed nonfiction book,
On Writing,
was also a bestseller. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

ALSO BY STEPHEN KING

NOVELS

Carrie

’Salem’s Lot

The Shining

The Stand

The Dead Zone

Firestarter

Cujo

THE DARK TOWER I:
The Gunslinger

Christine

Pet Sematary

Cycle of the Werewolf

The Talisman (
with Peter Straub
)

It

The Eyes of the Dragon

Misery

The Tommyknockers

THE DARK TOWER II:
The Drawing of the Three

THE DARK TOWER III:
The Waste Lands

The Dark Half

Needful Things

Gerald’s Game

Dolores Claiborne

Insomnia

Rose Madder

Desperation

The Green Mile

THE DARK TOWER IV:
Wizard and Glass

Bag of Bones

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Dreamcatcher

Black House (
with Peter Straub
)

From a Buick 8

THE DARK TOWER V:
Wolves of the Calla

THE DARK TOWER VII:
The Dark Tower

AS RICHARD BACHMAN

Rage

The Long Walk

Roadwork

The Running Man

Thinner

The Regulators

COLLECTIONS

Night Shift

Different Seasons

Skeleton Crew

Four Past Midnight

Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Hearts in Atlantis

Everything’s Eventual

SCREENPLAYS

Creepshow

Cat’s Eye

Silver Bullet

Maximum Overdrive

Pet Sematary

Golden Years

Sleepwalkers

The Stand

The Shining

Rose Red

Storm of the Century

NONFICTION

Danse Macabre

On Writing

Dark Tower–related in bold