Doctor Sleep

to stipulate with no input from you gentlemen that sippin whiskey might not be such a good idea tonight.”
    “I’ll get it, Dad.”
    Abra bounced into the kitchen. They heard the snap of the flip-top andthe hiss of the carbonation—sounds that brought back memories for Dan, many of them treacherously happy. She returned with a can of Coors and a pilsner glass.
    “Can I pour it?”
    “Knock yourself out.”
    Dan and John watched with silent fascination as Abra tilted the glass and slid the beer down the side to minimize the foam, operating with the casual expertise of a good bartender. She handed theglass to her father and set the can on a coaster beside him. Dave took a deep swallow, sighed, closed his eyes, then opened them again.
    “That’s good,” he said.
    I bet it is, Dan thought, and saw Abra watching him. Her face, usually so open, was inscrutable, and for the moment he could not read the thoughts behind it.
    Dave said, “What you’re proposing is crazy, but it has its attractions. Chiefamong them would be a chance to see these . . . creatures . . . with my own eyes. I think I need to, because—in spite of everything you’ve told me—I find it impossible to believe in them. Even with the glove, and the body you say you found.”
    Abra opened her mouth to speak. Her father stayed her with a raised hand.
    “I believe that you believe,” he went on. “All three of you. And I believe thatsome group of dangerously deranged individuals might—I say might —be after my daughter. I’d certainly go along with your idea, Mr. Torrance, if it didn’t mean bringing Abra. I won’t use my kid as bait.”
    “You wouldn’t have to,” Dan said. He was remembering how Abra’s presence in the loading dock area behind the ethanol plant had turned him into a kind of human cadaver dog, and the way his visionhad sharpened when Abra opened her eyes inside his head. He had even cried her tears, although a DNA test might not have shown it.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Your daughter doesn’t have to be with us to be with us. She’s unique that way. Abra, do you have a friend you could visit tomorrow after school? Maybe even stay with overnight?”
    “Sure, Emma Deane.” He could see by the excited sparkle in hereyes that she already understood what he had in mind.
    “Bad idea,” Dave said. “I won’t leave her unguarded.”
    “Abra was being guarded all the time we were in Iowa,” John said.
    Abra’s eyebrows shot up and her mouth dropped open a little. Dan was glad to see this. He was sure she could have picked his brain any old time she wanted to, but she had done as he asked.
    Dan took out his cell and speed-dialed.“Billy? Why don’t you come on in here and join the party.”
    Three minutes later, Billy Freeman stepped into the Stone house. He was wearing jeans, a red flannel shirt with tails hanging almost to his knees, and a Teenytown Railroad cap, which he doffed before shaking hands with Dave and Abra.
    “You helped him with his stomach,” Abra said, turning to Dan. “I remember that.”
    “You’ve been pickingmy brains after all,” Dan said.
    She flushed. “Not on purpose. Never. Sometimes it just happens.”
    “Don’t I know it.”
    “All respect to you, Mr. Freeman,” Dave said, “but you’re a littleold for bodyguard duty, and this is my daughter we’re talking about.”
    Billy raised his shirttails and revealed an automatic pistol in a battered black holster. “One-nine-one-one Colt,” he said. “Full auto. WorldWar II vintage. This is old, too, but it’ll do the job.”
    “Abra?” John asked. “Do you think bullets can kill these things, or is it only childhood diseases?”
    Abra was looking at the gun. “Oh yes,” she said. “Bullets would work. They’re not ghostie people. They’re as real as we are.”
    John looked at Dan and said, “I don’t suppose you have a gun?”
    Dan shook his head and looked at Billy. “I’vegot a deer rifle I could loan you,” Billy said.
    “That . . . might not be good enough,” Dan said.
    Billy considered. “Okay, I know a guy down in Madison. He buys and sells bigger stuff. Some of it much bigger.”
    “Oh Jesus,” Dave said. “This just gets worse.” But he didn’t say anything else.
    Dan said, “Billy, could we reserve the train tomorrow, if we wanted to have a sunset picnic at Cloud Gap?”
    “Sure. People do it all the time, ’specially after Labor Day, when the rates go down.”
    Abra smiled. It was