Doctor Sleep

it . . . wait, wait, let go of me, Dan, I have to . . . you have to let me . . .”
    He took his hand away. There was a brisk snap and a blue flick of static electricity. The piano played a discordant run of notes. On an occasional table by the door to the hall, a number of ceramic Hummel figures were jittering and rapping. Abra slipped theglove on her hand. Her eyes flew wide open.
    “One is a crow! One is a doctor and that’s lucky for them because Barry is sick! He’s sick!” She stared around at them wildly, then laughed. The sound of it made Dan’s neck hairs stiffen. He thought it was the way lunatics must laugh when their medication is late. It was all he could do not to snatch the glove off her hand.
    “He’s got the measles! He’s caught the measles from Grampa Flick and he’ll start to cycle soon! It was that fucking kid! He must never have gotten the shot! We have to tell Rose! We have to—”
    That was enough for Dan. He pulled the glove from her hand and threw it across the room. The piano ceased. The Hummels gave one final clatter and grew still, one of them on the verge of tumbling from the table. Dave was staring athis daughter with his mouth open. John had risen to his feet, but seemed incapable of moving any further.
    Dan took Abra by the shoulders and gave her a hard shake. “Abra, snap out of it.”
    She stared at him with huge, floating eyes.
    ( come back Abra it’s okay )
    Her shoulders, which had been almost up to her ears, gradually relaxed. Her eyes were seeing him again. She let out a long breath andfell back against her father’s encircling arm. The collar of her t-shirt was dark with sweat.
    “Abby?” Dave asked. “Abba-Doo? Are you all right?”
    “Yes, but don’t call me that.” She drew in air and let it out inanother long sigh. “God, that was intense.” She looked at her father. “I didn’t drop the f-bomb, Daddy, that was one of them. I think it was the crow. He’s the leader of the ones who arecoming.”
    Dan sat down beside Abra on the couch. “Sure you’re okay?”
    “Yes. Now. But I never want to touch that glove again. They’re not like us. They look like people and I think they used to be people, but now they have lizardy thoughts.”
    “You said Barry has measles. Do you remember that?”
    “Barry, yes. The one they call the Chink. I remember everything. I’m so thirsty.”
    “I’ll get you water,”John said.
    “No, something with sugar in it. Please.”
    “There are Cokes in the fridge,” Dave said. He stroked Abra’s hair, then the side of her face, then the back of her neck. As if to reassure himself that she was still there.
    They waited until John came back with a can of Coke. Abra seized it, drank greedily, then belched. “Sorry,” she said, and giggled.
    Dan had never been so happy to heara giggle in his life. “John. Measles are more serious in adults, yes?”
    “You bet. It can lead to pneumonia, even blindness, due to corneal scarring.”
    “Death?”
    “Sure, but it’s rare.”
    “It’s different for them,” Abra said, “because I don’t think they usually get sick. Only Barry is . They’re going to stop and get a package. It must be medicine for him. The kind you give in shots.”
    “What did youmean about cycling?” Dave asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    “If Barry’s sick, will that stop them?” John asked. “Will they maybe turn around and go back to wherever they came from?”
    “I don’t think so. They might already be sick from Barry, and they know it. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain, that’s what Crow says.” She drank more Coke, holding the can in both hands, then looked around ateach of the three men in turn, ending with her father. “They know my street. And they mightknow my name, after all. They might even have a picture. I’m not sure. Barry’s mind is all messed up. But they think . . . they think if I can’t catch the measles . . .”
    “Then your essence might be able to cure them,” Dan said. “Or at least inoculate the others.”
    “They don’t call it essence,” Abra said.“They call it steam.”
    Dave clapped his hands once, briskly. “That’s it. I’m calling the police. We’ll have these people arrested.”
    “You can’t.” Abra spoke in the dull voice of a depressed fifty-year-old woman. Do what you want, that voice said. I’m only telling you .
    He had taken his cell out of his pocket, but instead of opening it, he held it. “Why