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"But he's still just a boy, Roland. Don't you see that?"
"He won't be for much longer," Roland said, and mounted up. He hoped Eddie didn't see the momentary wince of pain that cramped his face when he swung his right leg over the saddle, but of course Eddie did.
Chapter III:
The Dogan,
Part II
ONE
Jake and Be
In between these two activities they ate a huge lunch in the bunkhouse with half a dozen of the hands (not Slightman the Elder; he was off at Telford's Buckhead Ranch, working a stock-trade). "I en't seen that boy of Ben's work's'hard in my life," Cookie said as he put fried chops down on the table and the boys dug in eagerly. "You'll wear him plumb out, Jake."
That was Jake's intention, of course. After haying in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, and a dozen or more barn-jumps for each of them by the red light of evening, he thought Be
"Oy!"
"I'm going to go to sleep, but when the moon rises, I want you to wake me up. Quietly, do'ee ken?"
"Ken!" Which might mean something or nothing. If someone had been taking wagers on it, Jake would have bet on something. He had great faith in Oy. Or maybe it was love. Or maybe those things were the same.
"When the moon rises. Say moon, Oy."
"Moon!"
Sounded good, but Jake would set his own internal alarm clock to wake him up at moonrise. Because he wanted to go out to where he'd seen Be
TWO
The two boys lay in Be
Be
"Jake?" A whisper. "You asleep?"
"No."
"Me neither." A pause. "It's been great, having you here."
"It's been great for me," Jake said, and meant it.
"Sometimes being the only kid gets lonely."
"Don't I know it… and I was always the only one." Jake paused. "Bet you were sad after your sissa died."
"Sometimes I'm still sad." At least he said it in a matter-of-fact tone, which made it easier to hear. "Reckon you'll stay after you beat the Wolves?"
"Probably not long."
"You're on a quest, aren't you?"
"I guess so."
"For what?"
The quest was to save the Dark Tower in this where and the rose in the New York where he and Eddie and Susa
"Roland doesn't talk about stuff much," he said.
A longer pause. The sound of Be
Jake thought about that, then said: "He scares me a little, too."
"He scares my Pa."
Jake was suddenly very alert. "Really?"
"Yes. He says it wouldn't surprise him if, after you got rid of the Wolves, you turned on us. Then he said he was just joking, but that the old cowboy with the hard face scared him. I reckon that must have been your dinh, don't you?"
"Yeah," Jake said.
Jake had begun thinking Be
Jake thought of his room and at first found it surprisingly hard to picture. It had been a long time since he'd thought of it. And now that he did, he was embarrassed to describe it too closely to Be
"It was like this, only I had a desk," Jake said at last.
"A writing desk?" Be
"Well yeah," Jake said, the tone implying Sheesh, what else?
"Paper? Pens? Quill pens?"
"Paper," Jake agreed. Here, at least, was a wonder Be
"Ball pens? I don't understand."
So Jake began to explain, but halfway through he heard a snore. He looked across the room and saw Be
Oy opened his eyes-they were bright in the darkness-then winked at Jake. After that, he appeared to go back to sleep.
Jake looked at Be
At last, he went to sleep himself.
THREE
Some dark, dreamless time later, he came back to a semblance of wakefulness because of pressure on his wrist. Something pulling there. Almost painful. Teeth. Oy's.
"Oy, no, quittit," he mumbled, but Oy would not stop. He had Jake's wrist in his jaws and continued to shake it gently from side to side, stopping occasionally to administer a brisk tug. He only quit when Jake finally sat up and stared dopily out into the silver-flooded night.
"Moon," Oy said. He was sitting on the floor beside Jake, jaws open in an unmistakable grin, eyes bright. They should have been bright; a tiny white stone burned deep down in each one. "Moon!"
"Yeah," Jake whispered, and then closed his fingers around Oy's muzzle. "Hush!" He let go and looked over at Be
"Moon," Oy said, much more quietly. Now he was looking out the window. "Moon, moon. Moon."