“No. And the jittery feelings I used to get—just after sunset, just before dawn—have quit. And look at me!” She ran a hand down the swell of her breasts, to her waist, to her right hip. “I’ve lost some of the fullness. Roland…I’ve read that sometimes animals in the wild—carnivores like wildcats, herbivores like deer and rabbits—reabsorb their babies if the conditions to have them are adverse. You don’t suppose…” She trailed off, looking at him hopefully.

Roland wished he could have supported this charming idea, but he couldn’t. And withholding the truth within the ka-tet was no longer an option. He shook his head. Susannah’s face fell.

“She’s been sleeping quietly, so far as I can tell,” Eddie said. “No sign of Mia.”

“Rosalita says the same,” Callahan added.

“You got dat jane watchin me?” Susannah said in a suspiciously Detta-like tone. But she was smiling.

“Every now and then,” Callahan admitted.

“Let’s leave the subject of Susannah’s chap, if we may,” Roland said. “We need to speak of the Wolves. Them and little else.”

“But Roland—” Eddie began.

Roland held up his hand. “I know how many other matters there are. I know how pressing they are. I also know that if we become distracted, we’re apt to die here in Calla Bryn Sturgis, and dead gunslingers can help no one. Nor do they go their course. Do you agree?” His eyes swept them. No one replied. Somewhere in the distance was the sound of many children singing. The sound was high and gleeful and innocent. Something about commala.

“There is one other bit of business that we must address,” Roland said. “It involves you, Pere. And what’s now called the Doorway Cave. Will you go through that door, and back to your country?”

“Are you kidding?” Callahan’s eyes were bright. “A chance to go back, even for a little while? You just say the word.”

Roland nodded. “Later today, mayhap you and I will take a little pasear on up there, and I’ll see you through the door. You know where the vacant lot is, don’t you?”

“Sure. I must have been past it a thousand times, back in my other life.”

“And you understand about the zip code?” Eddie asked.

“If Mr. Tower did as you requested, it’ll be written at the end of the board fence, Forty-sixth Street side. That was brilliant, by the way.”

“Get the number…and get the date, too,” Roland said. “We have to keep track of the time over there if we can, Eddie’s right about that. Get it and come back. Then, after the meeting in the Pavilion, we’ll need you to go through the door again.”

“This time to wherever Tower and Deepneau are in New England,” Callahan guessed.

“Yes,” Roland said.