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Reaching the sidewalk, Richie dared to look back over his shoulder, and what he saas in no way coone, too Where they had stood there was noenty-foot-high plastic statue of Buddy Holly He earing a button on one of the narrow lapels of his plaid sportcoat RICHIE TOZIER’s "ALL-DEAD" ROCK SHOW, the button read

One bow of Buddy’s glasses had beenhysterically; his father alking rapidly back toward doith the weeping child in his ar

(feets don’t failnot to think about

(we’ll play AAALLLL THE HITS!)

what had just happened All he wanted to think about was theto have in the Derry Town House bar before he went up to take that nap

The thought of a drink-just your ordinary garden-variety drink-made him feel a little better He looked over his shoulder oneat the sky, plastic axe over his shoulder, an to walk faster,distance between hiun to think about the possibility of hallucinations when the pain struck his eyes again, deep and agonizing, causing hiirl who had been walking ahead of hi clouds, looked back at hiht?"

"It’s my contacts," he said in a strained voice "My daot his forefingers up so quickly he almost jabbed theht, I won’t be able to blink the to happen, I won’t be able to blink the and hurting until I go blind go blind go bl-But one blink did it as one blink always had The sharp and denned world, where colors stayed inside the lines and where faces that you saere clear and obvious, simply fell away Wide bands of pastel fuzz took their place And although he and the high-school girl, as both helpful and concerned, searched the paving of the sidewalk for alle lens

In the back of his head Richie see

5

BILL DENBROUGH SEES A GHOST

Bill did not see Pennywise that afternoon-but he did see a ghost A real ghost So Bill believed then, and no subsequent event caused hie his mind

He had walked up Witchae met his end on that rainy October day in 1957 He squatted down and peered into the drain, which was cut into the stonework of the curbing His heart was beating hard, but he looked anyway

"Come out, why don’t you," he said in a low voice, and he had the not-quite- passageways, not dying out but continuing onward and onward, feeding on its own echoes, bouncing off -dead machinery He felt it float over still and sullen waters and perhaps issue softly from a hundred different drains in other parts of the city at the saet you"

He waited nervily for a response, crouched doith his hands between his thighs like a catcher between pitches There was no response

He was about to stand up when a shadow fell over hi but it was only a little kid,faded Boy Scout shorts which displayed his scabby knees to good advantage He had a Freeze-Pop in one hand and a Fiberglas skateboard which looked almost as battered as his knees in the other The Freeze-Pop was a fluorescent orange The skateboard was a fluorescent green

"You always talk into the sewers, mister?" the boy asked

"Only in Derry," Bill said

They looked at each other solehter at the same time

"I want to ask you a stupid queh-question," Bill said

"Okay," the kid said

"You ever h-hear anything down in one of these?"

The kid looked at Bill as though he had flipped out

"O-Okay," Bill said, "forget I a-asked"

He started to walk away and had gottenhe would take a look at the home place-when the kid called, "Mister?"

Bill turned back He had his sportcoat hooked on his finger and slung over his shoulder His collar was unbuttoned, his tie loosened The boy atching hi his decision to speak further Then he shrugged, as if saying Oh what the hell

"Yeah"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah"

"What did it say?"

"I don’t know It talked so out of one of those pumpin stations down in the Barrens One of those puround-"

"I knohat you mean Was it a kid you heard?"

"At first it was a kid, then it sounded like a man" The boy paused "I was some scared I ran home and toldall the way down the pipes from someone’s house"

"Do you believe that?"

The boy sly "I read in uy, he got s were, like, little radios I guess if I believed that, I could believe anything"

"A-Ayuh," Bill said "But did you believe it?"

The boy reluctantly shook his head

"Did you ever hear those voices again?"

"Once when I was taking a bath," the boy said "It was a girl’s voice Just crying No words I was ascared to pull the plug when I was done because I thought I ain

The kid was looking at Bill openly now, his eyes shining and fascinated "You know about those voices, o Did you know any of the k-kids that have been murdered here, son?"

The shine went out of the kid’s eyes; it was replaced by caution and disquiet "My dad says I’ers He says anybody could be that killer" He took an additional step away fro into the dappled shade of an elm tree that Bill had once driven his bike into twenty-seven years ago He had taken a spill and bent his handlebars

"Not land for the last four ot into Derry yesterday"

"I still don’t have to talk to you," the kid replied

"That’s right," Bill agreed "It’s a f-f-free country"