‘Jesus!’ I screamed.
Chris was cackling wildly–in real amusement or hysterical terror I couldn’t
tell. ‘You did it, you did it! Gordie did it!’ He bugled. ‘Hey, Gordon Lachance is
shooting up Castle Rock!’
‘Shut up! Let’s get out of here? I screamed, and grabbed him by the shirt.
As we ran, the back door of the Blue Point jerked open and Francine Tupper
stepped out in her white rayon waitress’s uniform. ‘Who did that? Who’s letting off
cherry-bombs back here?’
We ran like hell, cutting behind the drug store and the hardware store and the
Emporium Galorium, which sold antiques and junk and dime books. We climbed a
fence, spiking our palms with splinters, and finally came out on Curran Street. I threw the .45 at Chris as we ran; he was killing himself laughing but caught it and somehow
managed to stuff it back into his knapsack and close one of the snaps. Once around
the corner of Curran and back on Carbine Street, we slowed to a walk so we wouldn’t
look suspicious, running in the heat. Chris was still giggling.
‘Man, you shoulda seen your face. Oh man, that was priceless. That was really
fine. My fucking-A,” He shook his head and slapped his leg and howled.
‘You knew it was loaded, didn’t you? You wet end! I’m gonna be in trouble.
That Tupper babe saw me.’
‘Shit, she thought it was a firecracker. Besides, ole Thunderjugs Tupper can’t
see past the end of her own nose, you know that she thinks wearing glasses would
spoil her pretty face.’
He put one palm against the small of his back and bumped his hips and got
laughing again.
‘Well, I don’t care. That was a mean trick, Chris. Really.’
‘Come on, Gordie.’ He put a hand on my shoulder. ‘I didn’t know it was loaded,
honest to God, I swear on my mother’s name. I just took it out of my dad’s bureau. He
always unloads it. He must have been really drunk when he put it away the last time.’
‘You really didn’t load it?’
‘No sir.’
‘You swear it on your mother’s name even if she goes to hell for you telling a
lie?’
‘I swear.’ He crossed himself and spat, his face as open and repentant as any
choirboy’s.
But when we turned into the vacant lot where our treehouse was and we saw
Vern and Teddy sitting on their bedrolls waiting for us, he started to laugh again. He told them the whole story and after everybody had had their yucks, Teddy asked him
what Chris thought they needed a pistol for.
‘Nothin’,’ Chris said. ‘Except we might see a bear. Something like that. Besides, it’s spooky sleeping out at night in the woods.’
Everybody nodded at that. Chris was the biggest toughest guy in our gang, and
he could always get away with saying things like that. Teddy, on the other hand,
would have gotten his ass ragged off if he even hinted he was afraid of the dark.
‘Did you set your tent up in the field?’ Teddy asked Vern.
‘Yeah. And I put two turned-on flashlights in it so it’ll look like we’re there
after dark.’
‘Hot shit!’ I said, and clapped Vern on the back. For him, that was real thinking.
He grinned and blushed.
‘So let’s go,’ Teddy said. ‘Come on, it’s almost twelve already!’
Chris got up and we gathered around him.
‘We’ll walk across Beeman’s field and behind that furniture place by Sonny’s
Texaco,’ he said. ‘Then we’ll get on the railroad tracks down by the dump and just
walk across the trestle into Harlow.’
‘How far do you think it’s gonna be?’ Teddy asked.
Chris shrugged. ‘Harlow’s big. We’re gonna be walking at least twenty miles.
That sound right to you, Gordie?’
‘Yeah. It might even be thirty.’
‘Even if it’s thirty we ought to be there by tomorrow afternoon, if no one goes
pussy.’
‘No pussies here,’ Teddy said at once.
We all looked at each other for a second.
‘Miaoww,’ Vern said, and we all laughed.
‘Come on, you guys,’ Chris said, and shouldered his pack. We walked out of
the vacant lot together, Chris slightly in the lead.