The Gunslinger: Chapter 2, The Way Station
dehydration can cause hallucinations, boys and girls. at the start of this chapter, our hero is thinking back on his mommy singing him to sleep at nap-time. he's having a hard time remembering things that just happened to him, but the past is close. he thinks about cort again. whoever he is, he sounds like kind of a bastard.
two buildings in the semi-distance. the man in black?wait...he's smaller...no, that can't be him. oh. it's not. it's a boy. time for a bit of a faint, methinks.
when he comes to, the boy is taking care of him the best that he can...there's water and some hay under his head. we learn the boy's name is john/jake chambers, aka 'bama. remember that, it might be important later on. maybe it won't, though.
turns out the boy saw the man in black that roland is after, but he was scared (and rightly so), so he hid. how long ago was he there? three poops.awesome. where did this boy come from? well, he can't remember. hmph. kind of convenient. all he can remember is some stuff that seems so fantastic, he must be telling tales. wait, what's a beam?
roland hypnotizes the kid, who remembers his slutty mom and his coke-head dad. and some other stuff about a city that doesn't match up to anything that roland is familiar with. huh. oh yeah, the kid got run over by a car, he died and woke up here. seems that it was the man in black who pushed him in front of said car. (or was it? dun dun duuuuunnnnn!) roland tells the kid it's okay to forget and lets him go to sleep. while the boy is sleeping, he thinks some more about cort and various people he's killed. what a nice guy. seems like he may realize already what's in store for jake. he takes a little nap, and when he wakes up, the boy's outside.
we need to talk.
the kid agrees to come with him, and they make plans to go down into the spooky cellar in the morning for supplies.
it stinks. there are some spiders that my oldest son would go apeshit over....oh, and some cans. food.
what the hell is going on? oh, don't worry about that, it's just a demon in the wall. "Go slow past the Drawers, gunslinger. Watch for the taheen. While you travel with the boy, the man in black travels with your soul in his pocket." uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. that's it. then he reaches into the wall and takes out a jawbone. gross. you'd do well to remember that, boys and girls. i have a feeling it's not just filler.
they set off. (jake waving good-bye to the way station reminds me of the first time we took drake to disneyland when he was three, and he waved good bye then. here, it kind of breaks my heart a little.) jake feels like they're being watched.
3 days later, and they're seeing trees in the distance. (shit! i just spilled my water! give me a minute.) jake's pushing himself, and he's not really slowing roland down too much. it seems they're starting to catch up to the guy they're following. "'ware the man that fakes a limp."
cos of something jake says, roland starts to think about gilead and other things. he puts the kid to sleep and then....mmmm. he rolls a cigarette.
*flashback*
roland and his buddies, the g.i.t. are learning to use a hawk as a weapon. cos cuthbert sucks, he's punished with no supper. see, i told you this cort seemed like a bastard. whatev. they'll just have the friendly cook sneak them some. while they're hiding, eating their dessert, though, they learn that hax (the cook) is a traitor...he's working for the good man (farson, aka marten, aka walter aka the man in black), who it doesn't seem is actually so good. there's going to be some poisoned food delivered to taunton. (correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't it originally the farson road?) cos of roland's training, and duty, he goes to report it to his da, no matter that it means the cook will hang. he gets permission to go watch the cook get his "neck popped." cort (that bastard) gives ro and cuthbert a loaf of old bread...for the birds.
they get there early, and decide to check out the gallows. roland takes a splinter of wood so that he can have it always. i wonder whatever happened to it? that's two things i'm wondering about now...the compass and the splinter. people start showing up for the hanging, and it's like a picnic with entertainment. that disturbed me a little. more disturbing, though, was that hax went to his death with his final words left unspoken. i wonder what he was about to say? "I never..." i never what? i never put the milk back in the cold box? i never told anyone i like little boys? what? (sorry, that's inappropriate. deal.) they break the bread up for the birds. is this so that they'll leave the body alone for awhile? i guess i never really got that bit.
anyway, roland comes back from his reverie and jake is pointing...they can kind of see the man in black hopping around up in the mountains. roland's right hip is hurting. remember this. you may be tested on the material. they stop, and jake falls asleep while eating. roland is already thinking of him as a sacrifice as he tucks him in. what a sweetie.
