The Body (1982), Fall From Innocence, a Novella by Stephen King: a summary

The most important things are the hardest things to say. (on page 1)

The narrator is Gordie Lachance, this fiction is told in a memoir form. We could say he is the hero of the story, although he never did heroic acts. He was just a regular teenager then turned to be a good writer. His books is in the movie and they get good reviews. The story follows Gordie, about his teenage days in Castle Rock in sixties. Four teenagers tried to find a body of the missing boy at their age named Ray.

This is not an easy, quick read. Time also flip-flops back and forth with little warning. Instead of a structure narrative that explains, the reader is able to see through the characters’ ideas, remembering memories the way actually remember moments from our lives in flashes. You will find poetries throughout the work. I totally also agree with Gordie or the author when he said that friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant.

The Body (1982), Fall From Innocence, a Novella by Stephen King: a summary

It had been driest an hottest since 1907-or so the newspaper said, and on that Friday preceding the Labor Day weekend and the start of another school year, even the goldenrod in the fields and ditches beside the backroads looked parched and poorly. Nobody’s garden had done doodly-squat that year, and the big displays of canning stuff in the Castle Rock Red & White were still there, gathering dust. No one had anything to put up that summer, except maybe dandelion wine.

Besides playing cards, the club was a good place to go and smoke cigarettes and look at girly book. Teddy and Chris and Gordie were up in the club on that Friday morning, glooming to each other about school being so near and playing cards and swapping the same old traveling salesman jokes and frenchman jokes.

Teddy Duchamp was close to being thirteen like the rest of them, but thick glasses and the hearing aid he wore sometimes made him look like an old man. Kids were always trying to cadge smokes of him on the street, but the bugle in his shirt was just his hearing-aid battery. In spite of the glasses and flesh-colored button always screwed into his ear, Teddy could not see very well and often misunderstood the things people said to him.

His eyes was just naturally bad, but there was nothing natural about what had happened to his ears. Back in those days, when it was cool to get your hair cut so that your ears stuck out like a couple of jug-handles, Teddy had Castle Rock’s first Beatle haircut-four years before anyone in America had ever heard of the Beatles. He kept his ears covered because they looked like two lumps of warm wax.

One day when he was eight, Teddy’s father got pissed at him for breaking a plate. His mother was working at the shoe factory in South Paris when it happened and by the time she found out about it, it was all over. Teddy’s dad took Teddy over the big woodstove at the back kitchen and shoved the side of Teddy’s head down against one of the cast-iron burner plates. Then he called the Central Main General Emergency unit and told them to come to get his boy. Then he hung up the phone, went into the closet, got his gun, and sat down to watch the daytime stories on TV with shotgun laid across his knees. When his neighbor came over to ask if Teddy was all right- she had heard the screaming-Teddy’s dad pointed the shotgun at her.

Teddy was shuffling the cards in his clumsy way and Gordie was just getting to the gooshy part of murder story. The trapdoor banged up and Vern Tessio, one of the other regulars, pulled himself into the clubhouse.

In April Gordie’s older brother, Dennis, had been killed in a Jeep accident. He and another guy were on their way and an Army truck hit them. Dennis would be twenty-two later that week. Gordie had already picked out a birthday card for him. For Dennis, his brother was hardly more than acquaintance. He was ten years older than Gordie, and he had his own friends and classmates.

They all heard about it on the radio. The radio, a Philco with a cracked case which had also been scavenged from the dump, played all the time. When the news came on they usually switched some metal dial over to the Mute. The news was a lot happy horseshit about Kennedy and Nixon and Quemoy and Matsu and the missile gap and what a shit that Castro was turning out to be after all. But they had all listened to the Ray Brower story a little more closely, because he was a kid their age.

He was from Chamberlain, a town forty miles or so east of Castle Rock. Three days before Vern came busting into the clubhouse after a two-mile run up Grand Street, Ray Brower had gone out with one of his mother’s pots to picked blueberries. When dark came and he still was not black, the Browers called the county sheriff and a search started – first just around the kid’s house and then spreading to the surrounding towns of Motton and Durham and Pownal. Everybody got into the act-cops, deputies, game wardens, volunteers. But three days later the kid was still missing. In 1960 the whole area between Chamberlain and Castle Rock was undeveloped, and there were places that had not even been logged since before World War II. In those days it was still possible to walk into the woods and lose your direction there and die there.

Teddy Duchamp was only about half-bright, but Vern Tessio would never be spending any of his spare time on College Bowl either. Still his brother Billy was even dumber. Four years ago, when he was eight, Vern buried a quart jar of pennies under the long Tessio front porch. He played a pirate sort game, and pennies were buried treasure. He drew a treasure map which he put up I his room with the rest of his junk. He forgot all about it for a month or so. But his mom had been in to clean two or three times since then, and had collected all the old homework papers and candy wrappers and comic magazines and joke books. She burned them in the stove to start the cook-fire one morning, and Vern’s treasure map went right up the kitchen chimney.

Vern came up to the club with his news as quick as he did not just to get it out but to show others that some good had finally come of his penny-hunt. He was under the porch when the screen door slammed up above. Two pair of footsteps crossed the porch, and then Billy’s friend, Charlie Hogan himself talked to Billy in trembling voice. Vern heard Charlie Hogan talked like who was one of the toughest kids in town. Charlie after all, hung out with Ace Merrill and Eyeball Chambers. Vern took a chance and crept a little closer to the steps, practically slavering. At that point he thought that maybe Billy and Charlie had been really drunken up and had run somebody down.

They talked about the kid, Billy said the kid was dead, it was nothing to him. The train must have hit him. Billy said the girls did not see it. Charlie and Billy went with a couple of scags named Marie Dougherty and Beverly Thomas. They had dump the car somewhere near home. If they called the police, they would want to know how they got way out in Harlow. If they made a nonnamus call, the police would trace the call. Vern told what he had heard to the club. It was Chris’s idea to find the body and report it so they all would be on the news.

They were too excited to play cards. They climbed down from the treehouse, climbed the fence into the vacant lot, and played three-flies-six-grounders for a while with Vern’s old friction-aped baseball, but that was no fun either. All we could think about was that kid Brower, hit by a train, and how they were going to see him. Around ten o’clock they all drifted away home to fix it with their parents. They chose the night camping out in Vern’s back field as the reason for their mission. Gordon’s father was sixty-three years old, old enough to be his grandfather. His mother was fifty-five.

Chris thought they needed a pistol. Everybody nodded at that. Chris was the biggest, toughest guy in the 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. Behind them was Castle Rock. They went another mile and then decided to camp for the night. They were in Harlow now, in the woods. Somewhere up ahead was a dead kid, probably mangled and covered with flies. Vern, Chris and Teddy gathered wood and got a modest little the campfire going on a bed of cinders. They tromped down a flat place in the underbrush beside the embankment and laid out their bedrolls Then, for an hour or so, they fed fire and talked, the kind of talk you can never quite remember once you get past fifteen and discover girls. They did not talk about Ray Brower as the dark drew down, but Gordie was thinking about him.

The others slept heavily through the rest of the night. Gordie was in and out, dozing, walking, dozing again. The night was far from silent. Gordie scrambled up the cinders to the railroad tracks and sat on one of the rails, idly chucking cinders between his feet, in no hurry to wake the others. Morning come on apache. He did not know how long he sat there on the rail. He was about to get up when he looked to his right and saw a deer standing in the railroad bed not ten yards from him. Her eyes were not brown but a dark, dusty black. They looked each other for a long time. Then she turned and walked off to the other side of the tracks. She found grass and began to crop.

Then the rail started to thrum under his ass and bare seconds later the doe’s head came up, cocked back toward Castle Rock. Then she was gone in there gangling leaps, vanishing into the woods with no sound.

It was about nine-thirty when Teddy and Chris spotted water up ahead-they shouted to Vern and Gordie. Chris went running down the bank. He turned and trashed off across the pool in a clumsy breast-stroke. By then they were all getting undressed. They dived, swam under water, ducked each other. Teddy was screaming as he picked the leeches off his naked body. The leech hung off him like a crazy beard. Gordie began to cry, his own blood ran across his palm and inner wrist in a warm flood.

Fourteen years later Gordie sold his first novel and made his first trip to New York. His editor told him that it was a three-day celebration. The last touristy thing they did was to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry, and while leaning on the rail he happened to look down. He had a moment of almost total recall- or perhaps it was an actual incidence of time-travel. He was literally in the past, pushing halfway up than embankment and looking back at the burst leech: dead, deflated. In the years between then and the writing of this memoir, Gordie had thought remarkably little about those two days in September, at least consciously. The associations the memories bring to the surface are as unpleasant as week-old river-corpses brought to the surface by canonfire. Maybe Chris and Teddy and Vern would even be alive today. They did not die in the woods or on the railroad tracks.

They started to walk again, a little more slowly. And in the hour between two and three, the quality of the day’s light began to change, and they knew for sure that rain was coming. It was just host as ever, and even more humid. A sudden impossible bolt of lightning flashing down, seemingly from directed overheard. Vern began to screech triumphantly, he saw the body. Chris and Gordie were first to reach the body of Ray Brower. He was face down. He was wearing a solid color dark green tee-shirt and bluejeans. His feet were bare, a few feet behind him, caught in tall blackberry brambles, Gordie saw a pair of filthy low-topped Keds. He had been knocked spang out of his Keds. The train had knocked him out of his Keds just as it had been knocked the life of his body. The kid was dead; stone dead. There were ants and bugs all over his face and neck. His eyes were open.

They all jumped like they had been goosed and Vern cried out. On the far side of the boggy patch, where the woods took up again, masking butt end off the road, Ace Merrill and Eyeball Chambers stood together, half-obscured by a pouring gray curtain of rain. Chris was staring at Eyeball with mouth open. Charlie Hogan and Vern’s brother Billy stepped through them, cursing, wiping water out of their eyes. They were all on their feet now, ready to go. Ray was lying there alone gain. A bad bruise on the side of his face, a scalp laceration, a bloody nose. The newspaper reported he had been carrying a pot to put his berries in. But Gordie and his friends had not found it.

One day near the end of the month, while Gordie was walking home from school, a black Ford cut into the curb in front of him. The door flew open, Ace Merrill and his friends stepped out. Ace hit him with a flying tackle, he punched Gordie twice in the face. Then old Chalmers came out her porch with her cane clutched. She began shouted. Vern and Teddy took their lumps, too, although not as bad as either Chris or Gordie. Three of them caught Teddy walking home from the vacant lot one afternoon. They punched him out and broke his glasses. He fought them, but they would not fight him when they realized he was groping after them like a blindman in the dark.

They hung out together at school looking like the remains of a Korean assault force. Nobody knew exactly what had happened, but everybody understood that they had had a pretty serious run-in with the big kids and comforted themselves like men. When the casts came off and the bruises held, Vern and Teddy just drifted away. They discovered a whole new group of contemporaries that they could over it. Chris and Gordie began to drop by less and less frequently. Teddy and Vern slowly became just two more faces in the halls. They nodded and said hi. Friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant.

Vern Tessio was killed in a housefire that swept an apartment building in 1966 in Brooklyn. Teddy went in a squalid car crash in 1972. Chris enrolled in the college courses I his second year of junior high- he and Gordie both knew that if he waited any longer it would be too late; he would never catch up. Gordie and Chris studied together almost every night, sometimes for as long as six hours at a stretch. But by their junior year in high school, Chris had been accepted. Neither of them made top honors, but Chris came out seventh and Chris stood nineteenth. They were both accepted at the University of Maine, but Gordie wet to the Orono campus while Chris enrolled at the Portland campus.

Near the end of 1971, Chris went to a restaurant in Portland. Just ahead of him, two men started arguing about which one had been first in line. One of them pulled a knife. Chris, who had always been the best of gang at making peace, stepped between them and was stabbed in the throat. The man with the knife had been released from the prison only the week before. Chris died almost instantly. When he read the news from paper, Gordie had been married a year and a half and was teaching high school English. Gordie now was a writer, he sold the book and it was made into a movie and the movie got good reviews and it was a smash hit besides. It was funny how he saw Ace Merrill. His friends were dead but Ace was alive. There no sign of recognition on the face of that thirty-two-year old man who had broken Gordie’s nose in another dimension of time.

******

October 9, 2017

Sekapur Sirih

Berlatar belakang waktu pada tahun 60-an hingga 70-an, the Body merupakan novela ketiga dari empat novela yang terkandung dalam Different Season milik Stephen King. Ini merupakan postingan ketiga dari Different Season. 

Cerita disampaikan dalam gaya memoir, naratornya adalah Gordon Lachance. Isi cerita tetap menarik walau bukanlah terbaik bagi saya. Gordie, seorang penulis, tentang masa remajanya bersama tiga orang temannya. Gordie, Chris, Teddy dan Vern adalah empat remaja dan hampir sepantaran dan bersekolah di tempat yang sama. Dalam usia sekitar tiga belasan bergejolak rasa penasaran dan prihatin atas hilangnya remaja seusia mereka, seseorang yang dinyatakan hilang. Tanpa sengaja Vern, salah seorang dari mereka mendengar percakapan abangnya yang ketakutan membahas anak hilang. Anak itu ditabrak oleh kereta api dan geng Godie pun melakukan pencarian mayat tanpa sepengetahuan siapapun.

Persahabatan yang membekas di ingatan Gordie, walau banyak teman yang datang dan pergi namun kenangan remaja dan kisah mayat dan penganiyaan yang mereka terima dari anak berandal tidak terlupakan. Memang novela ini agak sulit dipahami sehingga kurang tepat bagi pembaca pemula. Gaya tulisan bebas dan plot acak, namun kuat dan banyak ditemui tulisan indah bersyair dalam narasinya.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia the Body (Jasad,1982), novela dari Stephen King: sebuah ringkasan

Bermain rumah pohon, permainan kartu menjadi rutinitas keempat anak itu. Teddy anak berkaca mata, Chris berbadan besar dan paling tua dari mereka, Gordie, dan Vern telah lama bersahabat. Ayah Gordie mempertanyakan putranya berteman dengan ketiga anak itu. Dalam keluarganya Gordie, bukanlah anak yang paling diinginkan. Orang tuanya lebih menyayangi Dennis, kakak tertua yang sudah meninggal dalam kecelakaan mobil. Ayah Gordie berumur enam puluh tahunan, lebih tepat menjadi kakeknya dan ibunya lima puluh lima tahun. Dennis lebih tua sepuluh tahun dari Gordie. Kematian Dennis membuat keluarga itu terpukul.

Berita hilangnya Ray pertama kali mereka dengar di radio. Semua permainan telah membuat keempatnya jenuh, dan rasa penasaran akan kabar hilangnya Ray, anak remaja sepantaran mereka membuat mereka gusar. Adalah Vern menyembunyikan uangnya dalam botol semasa ia berusia delapan tahun. Ia menggali tanah sedalam-dalamnya, seperti menyembunyikan harta karun. Ia pun membuat peta di mana ia mengubur uangnya, agar ia tidak lupa. Saat ibunya membersihkan kamar Vern, semua kertas-kertas dikumpulkan dan dibakar sebagai penyala kompor masak di dapur. Peta Vern pun ikut terbakar. 

Vern sibuk menggali di bawah teras rumah, saat itu pula ia mendengar percakapan abangnya Billy dan temannya Charlie Hogan. Vern menguping percakapan keduanya membahas si anak hilang. Billy meyakinkan tidak ada yang melihat mereka dan anak itu sudah tertabrak, bukan mereka pelakunya. Gang Billy, Charlie Hogan dan Ace Merrill terkenal anak punk pemabuk dan tidak berpendidikan.

Kalau mereka menghubungi polisi maka kegiatan narkoba mereka ketahuan, kalau mereka menelepon kantor polisi atas nama penelepon misterius, maka polisi akan menelusuri jejak telepon dan mendapati mereka. Billy menegaskan Ray tertabrak kereta. Vern pun memberitahu pada gangnya atas apa yang ia dengar. Keempatnya pun berempati ingin mencari mayat Ray, dengan berdalih berkemah di belakang rumah Vern.

Mereka berjalan kaki menelusuri hutan dan berkemah di sekitar tempat yang diduga pembuangan tubuh Ray. Setelah dua hari menginap mereka pun mendapati jasad Ray. Wajah anak itu lebam, lehernya sudah dikerumuni semut. Ray benar-benar tewas, sepatunya terlempar, keempat anak itu pun percaya Ray mati tertabrak kereta api. Di koran diberitakan, ia hilang saat disuruh mememetik buah berry, tapi wadah tempat berry tidak ditemukan di lokasi. Gang abang Vern tiba-tiba muncul. Billy Tessio dan Ace Merrill dan beberapa anak punk lainnya mengancam dan memukuli mereka agar tutup mulut akan jasad Ray dan mobil bukti yang tersembunyi milik gang Ace. Mereka semua meninggalkan tempat itu, meninggalkan mayat Ray seorang diri lagi di sana.

Beberapa bulan kemudian, saat pulang sekolah Gordie dipukuli oleh Ace Merrill dan temannya hingga hidungnya patah. Tiga teman lainnya juga dipukuli dan diancam oleh gang Ace Merrill. Setiap orang di kampungya tidak pernah tahu alasan sebenarnya pemukulan berseri terhadap keempat anak itu, keempatnya tutup mulut. Teddy dan Vern membuat geng baru, kalau ketemu di sekolah seperti dua muka asing bagi Gordie. Mereka tetap saling menyapa.

Sejak lukanya sembuh, Chris dan Gordie semakin jarang bertemu. Keduanya melamar masuk universitas, mereka pun berteman kembali dan belajar bersama. Saat di bangku SMA, keduanya pun diterima di universitas negeri yang sama, tetapi keduanya memilih kampus lain di dua kota berbeda.

Vern tewas dalam kebakaran di apartemen yang ditinggalinya di Brooklyn. Teddy tewas dalam kecelakaan dan Chris tewas tertusuk. Gordie membaca kematian Chris di koran. Seorng mahasiswa tertikam tewas saat melerai dua pengantri di sebuah restauran. Saat Gordie membaca berita duka itu, ia sudah menikah, dan mengajar bahasa Inggris di SMA. Waktu berlalu. Gordie menjadi penulis dan bukunya telah difilmkan. Film itu mendapat banyak pujian. Di puncak kesuksesannya, ia kembali ke kotanya. Kematian Ray tetap menjadi misteri bagi Gordie, apalagi ia semakin dewasa mengingat dan menganalisa jasad Ray. Lebam pada muka anak itu diragukanya sebagai lindasan kereta api, apakah masinis sebegitu ceroboh menabrak anak itu. Dia semakin meragukan dugaan kematian Ray tertabrak kereta api.

Sangat lucu, ia bertemu Ace Merrill. Ace masih hidup, sementara tiga kawan Gordie telah meninggal. Ia berhadapan dengan lelaki gemuk berumur tiga puluhan yang dulu pernah mematahkan hidung Gordie. Mereka saling bertatap mata, tetapi Ace tidak mengenali Gordie sama sekali.

******

9 Oktober 2017

11/22/63 (2011), a novel by Stephen King: summary

Dancing is life. (p. 477)


Jake Epping, a history teacher, is a time traveler. A friend, Al Templeton, shows him the way back to 1958 meanwhile Al and Jake is in 2011. To Jake it’s like rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland, a wino called Yellow Card Man named him Jimla (Jim LaDue, the Jim Cheer). He is a desperate man who just divorces from his wife Christy. Al’ rabbit-hole makes him alive again and enjoys his time in 1958, then he meets a girl, Sadie Dunhill. He has two missions, the serial killing of the Dunnings and Kennedy assassination. It was Harry Dunning's essay that drives Jake to change the shocking slaughter of the Dunnings. He uses it as test before he fix big history, the Kennedy assassination. 

Movie Looper would really help you to understand this fiction. Plot is energetic and wild, reader would be taken to the ‘50s and 1962, I found myself enjoy the dialogue, it is engaging and realistic. There are a handful of details about the scenes, and the character both for the Dunnings and the Oswalds. This is not an easy, quick read, there are times that I had to pause and reread the paragraphs. The author conveys emotions well, and I could relate to Sadie. 

Don’t expect this book will draw you into horror theme, but this time Mr. King brings us into Jake’s life, the human original: how an English teacher to survive in time that is totally different from his current life (2011). The author also gives us detail things in fifties and early sixties: the menu, fashion, dance, paradigm, history, love, sentimentality, romantic and melancholic tone, and politics. The 1080-page fiction is published by Pocket Books in 2011. 

11/22/63 (2011), a novel by Stephen King: summary

Harry Dunning raised the diploma, holding it carefully by the fingertips, as if the inks might smear. He preferred to calling him Mr. Epping than calling him Jake, it’s a little perk to a students who were old enough to be his father. Jake Epping took his student to Al’s diner, where Jake was the only faculty regular, and although he actually had a waitress that summer, Al served them himself. Kids avoided Al’s like the plague. The meals at Al’s were always remarkably cheap, which had given rise to rumors about the fate of certain stray animals in the vicinity. He took a picture of Jake and Harry. Two years later, on the last day of school year, Jake was sitting in that very same teacher’s room, and reading his final essay.

Al Templeton, owner and operator of Al’s Diner, where all Lisbon Historical School faculty save for yours truly refused to go. Jake had had a lot of conversations with Al in the six or seven years. He asked Jake to come to his place. Al’s Diner was housed in a silver trailer across the tracks from Main Street. There were a net square of lawn, which he barbered himself with an old push-type lawn mower.

Al had lung cancer. No big surprise. He started smoking when he was eleven. He admitted he was sixty two, he looked much older than his age. Al ordered him to take off his wallet, the cell phone. It was only two minutes. The Dying man’s request. Al handed him money, old money. Jake took two or three steps forward, his foot went down. He closed his eyes. The dark field inside his eyes turned red, and there was warmth on his skin. He opened his eyes, he was no longer in Al’s pantry. It was in the courtyard. He turned around to look at the big silver trailer which housed Al’s Diner, but the diner was gone. He could heard Al’s voice, but very faint. He was a wino as Al had said, he called him Yellow Card Man. The Yellow Card Man asked the money as he arrived.

He met a kid, the collar of his shirt was turned up at the nape of his neck, and his hair was combed in a style Jake recognized from old movie mostly as Early Elvis. Unlike the boys he used to seeing in his classes. He started to walking, and it was the Kennebec Fruit Company, he went inside. On the left was a rack of newspapers. No New York Times, but there were copies of the Portland Press Herald and one leftover Boston Globe. The date was Tuesday, September 9, 1958. It was always two minutes. When he went down the steps, it was always 11.58 A.M o the morning September ninth, 1958. Every trip was first trip. Back to two minutes of twelve on September ninth of 1958 meant change the whole things.

As an English teacher, Jake still had a marketable skill. Al had lived in the past for for years. He made a small fortune by betting. He did not want to raise any suspicious, he did not some bookie’s leg-breakers coming after him. When Jake had studied up on who won every big sporting event between the summer of 1958 and the fall of 1963, he could afford to be careful. His brief visit to 1958 had taken on the fading texture a dream. He went back to Al’s pantry in 2011.

Jake wanted to fix history, but not all histories. Adolf Hitler was out of their reach. If time traveler wanted to fix 9/11, he had to wait for forty-three years. Jake would be pushing eighty, but Jake change history, John Kennedy could live. They thought about Dallas in 1963. Al himself had seen Lee Oswald and Marina, he had a book about Oswald.

The first day of summer vacation was usually as happy for teachers as it was for students, but Jake felt sad. He had awoken feeling sad. He dreamed he was in the teacher’s classroom, reading Adult English themes. His wife, Christy, was just out of rehab. Jake was hoping that she would be home when he got there.

He had the dream, he had shifted Harry Dunning’s essay. Harry was survivor when his father slain his brothers. Al also knew the story, it happened in Derry. He lived with his uncle and aunt in Haven. There no remedial classes those days and the phrase mentally challenged hadn’t been invented yet. The Dunning family made a better test case for Jake. It was not just a young girl paralyzed or terrible. The Dunning case was about four people murdered and a fifth maimed for life. The slaughter of his father made him crippled, Harry kept the leg and eventually became a janitor to Lisbon High School, known to generations of student as Hoptoad Harry. He needed to fix the Dunning before he went monkeying with something as big as the Kennedy Assassination. 

The wino was struggling to his feet. He had sang his hat and was holding it crushed against his midsection. His eyes were large and wet. The slick of drool had reappeared on his chin. He asked Jake about his job. Jake had no idea but he kept calling him Jimla. He was not the Yellow Card, not that time. It was a dirty but still bright orange. He hurried across the street, stepped into Frank Ancietti’s place. Frank Ancietti Senior was welcoming him. He handed Al’s vintage dollar for the root beer. Frank Ancietti Junior gave him a smile. Apparently the part of the script where Frank Junior and him discussed the Shirley Jackson story had been cut from his draft. He thought the Sunliner was the coolest car he had ever seen in his life.

The town around that jagged greenbelt to consist solely of sooty grays and blacks under a sky had been stained urine yellow by the stuff billowing from those smokestacks. That was the town where Harry Dunning had grown up. The downtown shopping area, situated  at the bottom of three steep hills, felt pitlike and claustrophobic. He did not know the first name of Harry Dunning’s father. Derry was full of Dunnings. His time in Derry had begun. He now has to find a family with kids named Troy, Arthur (alias Tugga), Ellen and Harry. According to janitor’s essay, Troy Dunning was fifteen. A fifteen-year-old could easily be part of the team, although probably not a starter. How hard would it have been to locate the right Dunning family in 2011? Just plugging the names and into search engine, hit  enter and let Google.

In the Derry of 1958, the most up-to-date computers were size of small housing developments, and the local paper was no help. He had gone to the library hoping to get a look the census records. Only the census records were not there. The librarian told him those records certainly belonged in the library, but the town council had some for reason decided they belonged to City Hall. There was picnic area, on the grass, a gangly boy in tape-mended glasses and absolutely gorgeous redheaded girl were dancing. Jake also met Christy at swing-dancing class in Lewiston, and this was one of the tunes they had learned. 

Beverly Marsh knew Tugga Dunning, they were at the same school, Derry was a small city. Tugga had signed up for the school talent show. Tugga and his family lived on Kossuth Street. Beverly also admitted he had met Tugga’s father. He worked at the Center Street Market. He was a nice man, always smiling. The boy, Richie, said his wife kicked him out. Tugga told his friend. Jake gave brief dancing lesson to Beverly and Richie. Jake wonderer where was and who she was in 2011. If she even alive.

Kossuth was a hedge-lined street old-fashioned New England saltbox houses. He walked under the elm streets that had yet to be touched by the blight that would take almost all of them by the seventies, trees that were still as green as they had been in July. Sprinklers twirled on lawns. As he passed Dunning’s house Jake pretended to be absorbed in his paper, a woman came out on the stoop. A boy was with her. Ellen Dunning dismounted, drooped her bike on its side in the driveway, as her mother was calling.

On the second day in Derry, Jake went to the Center Street Market. It was Frank Dunning who was making ladies laugh. Beverly might only be twelve or thirteen, but she was female, and Frank Dunning was a charmer. Mr. Dunning was handsome, he wore a styish white hat. At the bottom at his story written Frank Dunning, head Butcher. As Jake strolled toward him, he tied off a package of meat with a length of string drawn from a roll on a spindle beside his scale. The market closed at 06:00 P.M. A city bus came along and stopped across the Center Street Market. He got on the bus. He walked in to a building that was only five blocks from his house. On the following day, Jake rented an apartment advertised in the Derry News. Jake only thought he was to follow him, wait until he was alone, then he killed him. But there were problems with this. Even if he knew that his potential victim was going to kill his own wife and children if he were not stopped? He was Jake Epping and also George Amberson. If he got caught, he would be found guilty, sent to prison. And that was where he would be on the day JFK was killed in Dallas.  

He assumed Harry’s essay was the truth. There was no need to follow Frank Dunning. George Amberson went into bar and grill called The Lamplighter, not as upper-crust as the one at Town House, but nowhere near as grotty as the ones on Canal. In every small city there are one or two borderland joints where bluecollar and whitecollar workers meet as equals, and this looked like that kind of place. Usually the menu features some local delicacy that makes outsiders scratch their head in puzzlement. The Lamplighter’s specialty seemed to be something called Fried Lobster Pickin’s. A small man with slicked-black hair, a round face, and lively black eyes, smiled at Jake. Charles Frati looked like a chipmunk, he shared the Derry’s history and its people. Chaz was a Jew, and a buy sell trade man. Frank Dunning was at the bar. He was kind of man who knew how to make a party go, but he had drinking problem.

Frank was supposed to go to the University of Maine, but he got a girl pregnant and ended up getting married instead. After a year of two of it, she collected the baby and scrammed. Frankie was the kind of guy, fighting the German or Japs would probably good for him. Divorced that first wife of his ground desertion after she was gone year or two, then remarried not long after. He settled on Doris McKinney, a lovely girl. They got four kids.

The day slipped by. Jake read Al Templeton’s notes on Oswald. He visited the library and read about the murders and disappearances that had plagued Derry in 1957 and 1958. Frank Dunning’s case had not made into the newspaper’s police column. Now Jake was only focus on the story of janitor’s father, and Lee Harvey Oswald. Jake visited West Side Rec, a fine facility for kiddos. One of the people he spoke to was Doris Dunning. Like most folks in Derry, she was polite but distant. 

The slaughter was in Halloween. Based on Harry’s theme Frank was swinging the sort of hammer guys kept in their tool-boxes. As Jake came through the arch, Harry Dunning standing in the door of a small water closet in the far corner of the kitchen. He was dressed in buckskin and carrying his air riffle in one hand. The other two boy were yelling. Doris was o the living room rug. He had already broken her arm. Dunning was slinging back the hammer. Ellen was a little dervish, trying to push him back out the door. The little girl asked her father to stop. He grabbed her hair and heaved. Jake asked him to stop. 

Frank was drunk, he looked at Jake with read, streaming eyes. Jake pulled the trigger of the revolver, the bullet took him in the shoulder. Jake the trigger gain, but Harry was yelling to his father, asking the drunkard man to stop. Ellen and Mrs. Dunning was shrieking. Harry’s face was obliterated in a sheet of blood. Bill Turcotte arrived at the right time. He knew that Dunning had killed his sister, Frank’s first wife, and his nephew. The sirens got closer, Harry asked Jake who he was. Then Jake slipped out the back door and into Halloween 1958. Then he opened his eyes, saw Al’s haggard, anxious, too-thin face, and stepped back into 2011.

Jake next went to the Derry News website. He was looking at the front issue for the first of November 1958. At the very bottom page, the story headline of murderous rampage ended two deaths. Frank Dunning was a prominent member of the business community and active in many charity drives had arrived at home at his estrange wife on Friday night. Dunning struck her with a hammer, breaking her arm, and killed his twelve-year-son, Arthur Dunning, when the boy tried to depend her mother. Mr. Turcotte was passing by when he heard shouts and screaming from the Dunning residence. Dunning was stabbed to death. Only moments later, the heroic Mr. Turcotte suffered a heart attack. There was no mysterious stranger at the scene. Jake returned to his computer and tracking Ellen Dunning. She said Harry was dead in Vietnam and Troy was the rich man. He made a bundle in the computer business, went lunch with Steve Jobs. Ellen was a disc jockey, She finally notice that George Amberson was the guardian angel as Harry had told.

Jake was back to Derry after the Dunning slaughter. There was plenty about the World Series in the Derry Daily News. Nothing about Frank Dunning, but he was front-page material in next day’s paper. Businessman found murdered in local cemetery. Doris Dunning declared herself to be shocked and devastated. Another headline was the mystery killer went on as Frank Dunning was laid on rest. It was time to leave Derry, he left a note to Bill Turcotte. The message told Bill the fact who had killed Clara Turcotte and his nephew Mikey, suggested Bill to visit doctor.

Jake studied Al’s Oswald stuff. Sometimes he cursed Al for forcing him into the mission. It might have made things worse, and Al probably knew it. Even if he had not committed suicide, Jake would only have had a week and many books have been written about the chain events leading up to that day in Dallas? Some agreeing with Al’s belief that Oswald was acted alone, some claiming he had been part of elaborate conspiracy, some stating with utter certainty that he had not pulled the trigger at all and was exactly what he called himself after his arrest, a patsy.

On day in the spring of 1959, Jake opened his mailbox and discovered a call-card from the public library. He had reserved copy a new novel of Budd Schulberg. On his way of the library, he noticed a new poster cluttered bulletin board in the foyer. It was about a degree problem. Oswald was still in the Marines, and would not be discharged until September, when he would head for Russia. The degree was a good deal better looking than the test had been came with an impressive gold seal. When he presented it to a representative of the Sarasota County Schoolboard, that worthy accepted it without question and put him on the substitute list. Which was how Jake ended up teaching again for one or two days each day during the 1959-1960. He had a plan of his own for the years between August of 1960 and April 0f 1963.

Jake drove south of Dallas, five miles away he came to the town of Jodie. Population: 1280. On the main street he found a little restaurant. It was called Al’s diner. Al turned out to be Al Stevens, a skinny middle-aged guy who looked nothing like Al Templeton. He had a rockabilly hairdo, a gray-streaked bandido mustache, a thick Texas drawl, and a paper hat worn jauntily cocked over one eye. When Jake asked him if there was much to rent town of Jodie, he laughed. Jake admitted him that he needed a quiet place to finish his novel.

Al Steven suggested him to meet Deke Simmons, the school principal. Deke came in for diner most evenings, he was a widow. Lately he had lady-friend with him, Miss Mimi Corcoran, the librarian up to the school. That evening Jake returned to Al’s diner and introduced himself to the principal and his librarian lady-friend. Deke Simmons was tall, bald, and sixtyish. Mimi Corcoran was bespectacled and tanned. The blue eyes behind her bifocals were sharp. Jake said to them he was quite a bit of substitute teaching in Sarasota County. He have a reference from St, Vincent’s High School, in Madison.

The following week, Jake made a mistake. He should have known better; making another major wager should have been that last tings on his minds. He was worried about money. He had come to Texas with something less than sixteen thousand dollars. Some was the remainder of Al’s stake-money, but most of it the result of two very large bets, one placed in Derry, and one in Tampa. But staying at the Adolphus hotel for seven weeks or so had beaten up over for a thousand; getting settled in a new town would easily cost another four or five hundred. He had be based in Jodie for two half years before he could his business with Lee Harvey Oswald.

He had had to stay healthy and not had any accidents, he could not bank on that. On September twenty eight, a week before the Series was scheduled to start, he walked into Faith Financial. The money-man was stocky fellow wearing a green eyeshade. He asked Jake the standard first questions. It was a brand new one, which he had received by registered mail the week before; finally a piece of Texas identification to add to his collection. He had the Jodie address.

November sixteenth, 1960. Kennedy the president-elect for a little over a week. His patience was rewarded. The door of apartment opened and a skinny man who bore an eerie resemblance to Lee Harvey Oswald came out. He held the door for a woman.

Jake was still doing research in Dallas, but he was not going there very much in early 1961. Deke needed an English sub during that half school year. He was not surprised about Coach Borman, he was a thud who preached the gospel and did not like anyone poaching on his territory it her in season or out. Everybody on team was making fun of Amberson even Jimmy has doing it. There was only one star on the Lions’ football team, and that was Jim LaDue. When the new school year started in September, Oswald was still going to be in Russia, although he had already started what would be a lengthy paperwork battle to get back to America with his wife and daughter June, with who Marina would be pregnant any day now.

Deke and Mimi was going to be married. The ceremony was a small private affair in home. They left for Mexico the next day. They had another reason for inviting Jake to their reception. Deke has hired a well-qualified young lady from Georgia. Sadie Clayton was good-looking in artless what-you-see-is-what-you-get American-girl now.

The growling sax and hoocie-coochie drummer were backing s group band. The kids were not doing that dance. Here the boys and the girls came together, turned each other’s arm as if waltzing, then separated again, ending up across from they had begun. When they were apart, their feet went back on their heels and their hips swayed forward, a move that was both charming and sexy. Jake took Sadie by the arm, taught her dance. The kids saw them, called, and shouted. Jake was glad he was tall enough for her. Jake and Sadie turned like a wind up bride and groom on wedding cake, then came apart. The kids laughed and cheered. They had formed a clapping circle around them in the middle the polished floor. They came together and she twirled like a hoped-up ballerina beneath their linked hands. Jake and Sadie danced under the lights. Dancing is life.

Deke Simmons now was a widower for second time. He had stayed in Mexico longer than anyone had thought he would, and just folks just t believe he was going to remain there, he had come back. Ellen Dockerty was acting principal, the jog would be hers permanently. There was no candidates. Deke finally got around to checking Jake’s reference, it was now only him knew about the fake references. For him Jake was a fine teacher, but he there was one person who needed to know the truth about Jake, and that was a certain lady librarian.

There were three pictures clipped into Al’s notebook, printed off various computer sites. One of George de Mohrenschildt, wearing a blanker-suit with a white hankie in the breast pocket. There was no trace of authentic crazy Jake would soon observe ripping his shirt open on the porch of 2703 Mercedes Street. The second picture was of the infamous shooter’s nest, constructed of book cartoons, on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. The third was Oswald, dressed in black, holding his mail-order rifle in one hand and a couple of leftist magazine in the other. The revolver he would to kill Dallas police officer J.D Tippit- unless Jake stopped him- was tucked n Ozzie’s belt. The picture would be taken by Marina less than two weeks before the attempt on General Walker’s life. The location was the enclosed side yard of a two-apartment building at 214 West Neely Street in Dallas.

Peter Gregory was the first link in the chain that would lead George de Mohrenschildt to Mercedes Street. Like de Mohrenschildt, Gregory was a Russian expat in the petroleum biz. He was originally from Siberia, and taught Russian one night a week at the library. Lee discovered this and called for an appointment to ask if he, Lee, could possibly get work as a translator. Gregory gave him a test. Lee did not get a job; Gregory hired Marina instead- to give his son Paul Russian lesson, It was money the Oswalds desperately needed. Marina was tutoring a rich kid twice a week while he was struck putting together screen door.

Jake slept in his Dallas apartment at night and watched Marina stroll the baby by day. Lee now was working as a photoprint trainee at a Dallas graphic arts company. Marina had taken up temporary residence with a newly divorced woman named Elena Hall. The Hall woman worked for George Bouhe’s dentist, and it was the dentist who had been behind the wheel of the picked up on the day Marina and baby June moved out of the dump on Mercedes Street. Mostly what Jake thought was Sadie. Jake had two lives in late 1962 and early 1963. The good one was in Jodie, the other was in Dallas.

Lee and Marina got back together. On day in November of 1962, Jake came back from the library and observed Lee and Marina on the corner of West Neely and Elsbeth, shouting of each other. Several people had come out on their porch to watch. They were arguing in Russian, but the latest bone of contention was clear enough from Lee’s jabbing finger. That night there was another argument in front of the Elsbeth street house, and once again most of immediate neighborhood turned out to watch.

The Oswalds became his upstairs neighbors on March 2, 1963. Mostly it was unexpected presence, but there was something else, as well. Until she was standing right in front of him. Marina either ignored Jake’s surprised expression or did not notice it. After she asked introduced herself she asked him about her husband who did not come home. Jake reached for the doorknob when she was out of sight, and that was when the phone rang.  He almost did not answer it, but there were only a few people with his number, and one of them was Sadie. He had soft Southern accent.

She lived in single-story prehab ranch. Sadie went up the walk to her front door and stood for a moment, frowning. Later she found two dirty word on the wall over the sofa. She should have run then, but her dismay and outrage were so great that she had no room to fear. She knew who had done it, but surely Johnny Clayton was gone. The man she had married had little taste for physical confrontation. The door of her bedroom was open. Johnny Clayton was standing behind it with a knife in one hand and a revolver. He marched her into the living room, the gun was aimed at her midsection. He called Jake.

He headed for Jodie, then he realized he had to involve Deke on that. Clayton had forced in front door lock so it would not latch. Sadie did not notice but Deke did. Sadie screamed. Jake saw the blood, he saw Sadie’s ruined face. Jake cleared his mind, if he killed Clayton, he would be the subject of the police scrutiny no matter how justified the killing might be. His George Amberson identity would fall apart, and any chance he had stopping the assassination in November would be gone.

Dallas Morning News said a gunman with high-powered rifle tried to kill former Major General Edwin A. Walker. From the Dallas Morning News, April 12, 1963, said mental patient slashed ex-wife and committed suicide. Deke Simmons arrived too late on Wednesday night to save Sadie Dunhill from being wounded. Clayton had produced the knife with which he had wounded his wife and slashed his own throat. Simmons and another man, George Amberson of Dallas, tried to stop the bleeding no avail. Clayton was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr. Amberson, a former teacher, arrived shortly after Clayton had been disarmed, could be not reached for comment. Miss Dunhill was transported by ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where her condition was listed as fair.

Jake moved into Deke’s Spanish-style home on Sam Houston road. At least for public consumption. In truth, Jake moved in with Sadie. At Bee Tree Lane. He spent his days there, cooking her meals, working in her garden, and reading Bleak House to her. Finally Sadie had known all about Jake and his mission. He stayed with Sadie on the morning of August fifth until they put her on gurney and rolled her down to the operation room. The damage Clayton inflicted was very serious. Small economies always come back and bite you in the ass. He had taken out of Neely Street apartment to save eight or ten dollars a month.

He dialed de Mohrenschildt residence. Jake informed him about the unstable Oswald. He started set him a meeting after Jake told all proofs about Oswald: his visiting to his uncle in New Orleans, uncle Dutz-the one associated with Carlos Marcello.

There were plenty of good-looking women in the Dallas Auditorium on fight night, but Sadie got her fair share of admiring glances. She had made herself up carefully for the occasion, but even the most skillful makeup could only minimize the damage to her face, not completely to hide it. There was heavy traffic coming into Dallas, and by the time they reached their seas. The audience of fifteen hundred or so mostly cheered –Tom Case was a hometown boy, after all-but also he heard a healthy chorus of boos. A chubby cigar-smoker laughed and challenged Sadie to put on bet. She said she could see the future Dick Tiger was going down in five. 

Akiva Roth of Faith Financial at the fight but not alone. Two of Roth’s groons dragged Jake into the kitchen. Roth found George Amberson was unnatural, he could smell it. He won bets Jake were not supposed to win. Roth’s man swung the pipe at Jake’s midsection. His face was throbbing, but his abdomen was worse. Time-traveler is full of ironies. He had sustained broken teeth, a broken nose, a broken cheekbone, a fractured left knee, a broken left arm, dislocated fingers and abdominal injuries. The doctor who treated him there was Malcom Perry, who later treat both John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald as they lay dying.

Mr. Jake George Puddentane Epping-Amberson spent seven weeks in Parkland before being moved to a rehab center-a little housing complex for sick people-on north side of Dallas. He admitted all to Sadie. He was Jacob Epping, he was a teacher, and he had somehow travelled back in time to stop the assassination of President Kennedy. He tried to reject the idea at first, but he knew too much about the intervening years, and those things were not visions. The Rolling Stones, the Clinton impeachment hearing, the WTC in flames. Christy, his troubled and troublesome ex-wife. He killed a man before he came to Texas. It was in a graveyard. He had to kill Frank Dunning before he was going to murder his whole wife. He killed Sadie’s ex-husband.

Deke was married to Mimi Corcoran, the school had a memorial assembly for her. On November sixteenth, the Times Herald published the Kennedy motorcade route. Sadie and Jake learned the routes and the buildings along the route. Sadie asked him about the future. The cold war is over and the president is a black man. Jake drove into downtown Dallas, stopped at a sporting goods store on the way to buy a gun-cleaning kit and a box of fresh ammo. The last thing he wanted was to have the.38 misfire or blow up in his face.

His next stop was Adolphus. The were no rooms available until next week, the doorman told him- every hotel in Dallas was full for president’s visit- but for a dollar tip, he was more than happy to park his car I the hotel lot. It was only three or four blocks to Dealey Plaza. Lee was inside that cube right now, and Jake was thinking many of the things. If Jake killed him before the twenty second, Kennedy would be saved out, but Jake would almost certainly wind up in jail or a psychiatric hospital twenty or thirty years. Waiting until so late in the game would be terrible risk. It would be safer with a partner to help him run the game, but there was only Sadie. He would not involve her, she had been hurt enough. He left her a farewell letter and asked her to burn it soon as she read it.

Jake was still trying to deal with the idea that Sadie was there, in the Fort Worth house where Lee and Marina lived. Jake was surprised with Sadie presence. She wanted to help him. Jake had no idea Sadie had told Deke Simmons about the assassination. Jake called him and asked to tell the police he had reliable information that someone was going to shoot president. Buss was running slow that day. It was nine-thirty came and still no bus. The bus was full, but folks from the bus stop crammed anyway. Bus passed south of Irving, where Lee’s wife was now recuperating from the birth of her child only a month ago. Traffic was slow. Behind them, the bus was in an uproar. There was not much enough time, Sadie stepped out the bus. She hailed a car and paid the man fifty dollars for a ride into Main Street.

By the time they reached the shadow of Depository. He could not see anyone in the one at the southeast corner on the sixth floor, but Lee would be there. Sadie tried the door. The sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository was a shadowy sure dotted with islands of stacked book cartoons. Behind the barricade, the sunlight, a man with a gun stood at the window. The window was open. Jake broke into a shambling run, slaloming around the stacked cartoons, digging in his coat pocket for. 38. Lee turned his head and looked at him, eyes wide, mouth hung open. For a moment he was just Lee- the guy who had laughed and played with Junie in bath, the one who sometimes hugged his wife. When that happen he changed into something monstrous.

Jake had the pistol, the same he had used to kill Frank Dunning. Jake fired. His shot went high and only exploded from the top of the window frame, but it was enough to save John Kennedy’s life. There were screams and bewildered shouts below them. Lee raised his riffle again, this time it would not be the president he had be aiming. This time Jake was the one who stumbled. Then there was more gunfire, this time from outside. The presidential limo had taken off. The cops on the motorcycles had stopped in the middle of the street, and at least four dozen people acting as spotters, pointing up the sixth floor window, where a skinny man in a blue shirt was clearly visible. Jake started to get up, but his knee would no longer hold him. So he crawled to where Sadie’s lay. The front of her blouse was soaked with blood, but he could see the hole. More blood poured from her mouth. Sadie had fallen into the machine, after all.

Jake was not exactly arrested, but he was taken into custody and driven to the Dallas police station in a squad car. The same two cops who brought him from the Book Depository searched him and took her things. He arrived in interview room. Two men came in. The one introduced himself as Captain Will Fritz of Dallas Police. The other guy had heavy jowls, a drinker’s complexion, and short dark hair that gleamed with hair tonic. From the inside pocket of his suit coat he produced an ID folder and flipped it open. He was James Hosty, FBI. Jake admitted that he was close friend of Lee. 

The FBI had kept an eye on him because he defected to Russia, redefected to the United States, then he tried to defect to Cuba. Lee was handing out pro-Fidel leaflets on street corners for months before this horror show today. Detective Fritz just wondered how a professional educator like Jake could afford on the side of Fort Worth. The detective hardly to believe on Jake’s statement. POTUS had called from Austin to thank him from saving his life, and Jake was safe too from the investigation. expressed his condolence on Sadie and he thanked Jake.

Hosty’s knock came promptly at nine. He carried a briefcase in one hand. Dallas loved Amberson. There were a case of the stuff, and a framed letter promising him a case a month for rest of your life. More champagne. Everyone from the Dallas Chamber of Commerce to the city Board of Tourism sent them. People were bringing cakes, pie, casseroles, roasts of beef, barbecue chicken, and enough Mexican to give him the runs for five years. Jake had insisted he worked for no one but Hosty still did not believe on him. From the proof and tracking of George Amberson life, he also found Amberson was unnatural man, but he was clean. Hosty just asked him to go back to nowhere he came from. He thought he was joking about that, but was not entirely sure. The first lady began to cry and thanked him on behalf of her children. At some point while Jake had been talking to Jacqueline Kennedy, Hosty left.

In Little Rock he bought a ticket on the noon bus to Pittsburgh, with a single stop in Indianapolis. He had breakfast in the depot diner, near an old fellow who ate with a portable radio in front of him on the table. The major story was still the attempted assassination, of course Sadie. She was big, big news. She was to be given a state funeral, followed by interment at Arlington National Cemetery. In related developments, Miss Dunhill’s fiancé, George Amberson, also of Jodie, Texas, had been scheduled to appear before the press conference, but that had been pushed back to late noon -- no reason.

Lisbon Falls was stinky as ever, but at least the power was on. The Kennebec Fruit was dark, the front window still empty of the apples, oranges, and bananas. Someone was calling him Jimla. The Yellow Card Man was back from the dead. Only it was not the Yellow Card Man any more than the taxi driver who had picked him up at the bus station was the same one was the same one who had taken him from Lisbon Falls to the Tamarck Motor Court in 1958. He was a lot younger than the Yellow Card Man, and his black overcoat was newer and cleaner. As Jake approached, he saw two differences. Like the predecessor, he was wearing a fedora, but it was clean instead of filthy. And as with his predecessor, a colored card was poking up from that hatband like an old-fashioned reporter’s press pass. Only this one was not yellow, or orange, or black. It was green. The Green Card Man did not know who Jim Ladue was, but he kept calling Jake Jimla.

His real name was Zack Lang from Seattle. His sanity would not last much longer, if he did not get back. And the residual effects would be with him forever. High suicide rate among their kind. Time – traveler had training, so every trip was not a complete reset. Kyle, the Yellow Card Man, thought his name was Jimla. He saw it on some kind of Strings-O-Vision. Kyle saw it on a billboard in Texas. No sense making easy for anyone to stumble down the rabbit-hole by mistake. Then I stepped outside and back into 2011.

It had been dark the last time Jake had gone down the rabbit-hole, so of course it was dark now, because it was only two minutes later. A lot had changed in those two minutes, though. The Fruit was gone. There were a cellar-hole where it had stood. Across from it, where the greenfront had been in 1958 and where a bank should have been standing in 2011, was something called Province of Maine Food Cooperative.

He saw his face, he was wearing a long white beard and had canula stuffed up his nose, but even after five years, Jake had no trouble at all recognizing the man who had gotten him into mess. Harry still lived in the same house. He had no idea who the man in front of him. Jake pointed to a picture of Harry at about fifty. He was still in his wheelchair, but he looked hale and healthy, at least from the waist up. Next to him was a woman in a pink dress that reminded him of Jackie Kennedy’s suit on 11/22/63. It was taken on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. She died two years later.

Jake approached the mantelpiece again, and took down one of the framed picture. Harry looked at him curiously, and asked his age. Harry finally found that he was George Amberson, his guardian angel but also the man who has killed his father. Jake spent an hour in 2011. He was the Jimla after all, the monster in Rosette Templeton’s bad dream. I limped past the Kennebec Fruit, well ahead of the Ocher Card Man now. He was Jake Epping, high school teacher; he was George Amberson, aspiring novelist; he was Jimla, who was endangering the whole world with every step he took. He thought of Sadie. 

All he knew was that it was still there when he got back from all his adventures.  It was 2012, he went back to his house in Sabattus, caught up on his sleep, the packed two suitcases and his cat and drove to south. He stooped for gas in a small Massachusetts town called Westborough. He stayed that first night in the inn. There was Wi-Fi. He browsed Dallas Morning News in 1963, he found a news. Sadie was alive. According to the news, she was transported by ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where her condition was listed as fair.

In April 2012, Jake got a transfer student in his AP English class. Erin Tolliver and her family had moved to Westborough from Killeen, Texas. Killen’s newspaper had a column for every little town of Dallas. She said the Jodie Doin’s column of The Weekly Gazette still run, it was also on the net. That was a name he knew well. Killeen, where Sadie and Jake had shared a great many sweet nights. Killeen, which had had a newspaper called The Weekly Gazette. He went to the archive and searched for Sadie’s name.

It was Sadie, she was eighty now. She was on the headline; Jodie’s citizen of the century on July Centennial Celebration. It was an old scar now. To the loving eye, even smallpox scars are beautiful. In late June, after school was out, he packed a suitcase and once again headed for Texas. Dusk of a summer night in the town of Jodie, Texas. It was a little bigger than it was in 1963, but not much. There was a box factory in the part of town where Sadie Dunhill once lived on Bee Tree Lane. The speech commemorating Jodie’s centennial was over. Jake learned that Sadie had served one term as mayor herself and four terms in the Texas State Legislature, but that was the least of it. In 1996 she had been offered a chance to run for the U.S Congress but declined, saying she had plenty to do at the grassroots.

She never remarried. She never left Jodie. Jake introduced himself to her as George Amberson, but unfortunately she did not recognize him. But She said his name seemed familiar. Then he asked her about the Sadie Hawkins dance in 1961. Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief, but briefness makes sweetness. For the second time, she was asking him: “Who are you, George?” The music took them, the music rolled away the years, and they danced.

  
******

Sepatah Kata

Empat novela milik Stephen King memukau dan dua di antaranya telah dibagikan pada blog ini. 11/22/63 terdiri dari 1080 halaman dengan format dan jenis kertas  bagus, diterbitkan oleh Pocket Books pada tahun 2011, dan sekaligus merupakan edisi terbitan pertama. Fiksi ini menjadi novel pertama dari Stephen King yang pernah saya baca, walau sudah kerap menikmati karyanya lewat film sejak bangku kuliah. 

Plotnya sangat liar, dan ada beberapa titik kejutan, berkisah tentang seorang guru sejarah, melakukan perjalanan menerobos lorong waktu kembali ke masa lalu. Jake Epping masuk ke lima puluh tiga tahun lalu, dan ia melewati banyak rintangan dan juga kebahagiaan baru. Ada dua misi utama yang ia gariskan ketika sudah menikmati nikmatnya menjadi penjelajah waktu; pertama, penyelamatan pembantaian Frank Dunning, ayah muridnya benama Harry Dunning. Harry menuliskan sebuah esai tentang keluargnya dan mampu menggugah empati Jake. Misi ini dijadikan percobaan baginya sebelum ke misi besar yakni upaya penyelamatan JFK pada 22 November 1963, sekaligus menjadi judul novel ini.

Penulis dikenal baik dengan genre horor dan misteri, tapi dalam fiksi luar biasa ini memuat tema kehidupan sehari-hari, makanan, menu, dansa, sejarah, penjelajah waktu, percintaan, pembunuhan, persahabatan. Kisah asmara Jake, lelaki juga lihai berdansa, dengan gadis perpustakaan, Sadie Dunhill, mengaduk perasaan pembaca, namun cerita tetap heroik. Tentu saja, Jake bukanlah detektif, penulis King berhasil membuatnya natural sesuai pekerjaannya sebagai guru Bahasa Inggris, rasional dikaitkan dengan penghasilannya. Jake Epping berpindah waktu lewat langkah pelan seakan melewati rabbit-hole (lubang kelinci) ala Alice Wonderland, sarana cukup kocak berpindah waktu, tidak ada wahana. Gaya penulisan berupa perpaduan antara narasi dan percakapan bebas, dengan komposisi hampir sama. Tidak diragukan karya penulis dipastikan berkelas, dan dihubungkan dengan beberapa elit dan politikus jaman JFK.

Ringkasan terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, 11/22/63 (2011), sebuah novel karya Stephen King

Ia menerima telepon dari seorang lelaki yang menjadi teman bicaranya selama tujuh tahun. Jake Epping baru saja tiba di ruang guru, teman guru memberinya gagang telepon. Suara Al Templeton pemilik restauran burger, yang tidak diminati kebanyakan orang, namanya hingga diubah dari Fatburger menjadi Catburger. Tidak dengan Jake. Guru sejarah itu sangat rutin menikmati burger Al dan keduanya sangat akrab. Namun suara Al tidak seperti biasanya, Jake dengan mudah mengenali suara lemah sedang sakit. Sepulang dari pekerjaan di sekolah, Jake pun mengunjungi kawannya. Restauran bertanda tutup karena sakit terpampang di pintu.

Kanker paru-paru membuat Al lemas, Jake tidak pernah melihat lelaki yang tua di hadapannya akan selemah itu. Baru pertama kali Jake melihat kawannya dalam pakaian koki. Jake sempat bingung dengan Al, baru-baru ini ia mengaku berumur 52 tahun, sekarang 62 tahun. Mungkin ia tak pandai matematika, begitu pikir Jake. Restauran tutup total, lelaki sakit itu mengiring Jake pantrinya dan meminta hal aneh pada Jake. Alasan permintaan orang mati pun akhirnya meluluhkan Jake menuruti kehendak Al. Melepaskan jam, dompet, dan telepon seluler, lalu disuruh melangkah perlahan dan menutup mata. Al membekalinya segepok uang.

Jake menuruti perintah Al tua, ia pun seolah mendengar berisik suara pesawat dan dalam ruang gelap setelah melangkah dan menutup mata. Bukan di dapur Al atau di depan restauran, ia sekarang berada di lapangan kosong. Ia bisa melihat sekolahnya, tapi semua terasa aneh. Menelusuri jalan dan melangkah ke sebuah restauran ia mendapati surat kabar tertulis bahwa saat hari itu adalah 9 September 1958. Sebelumnya Al sudah menjelaskan bahwa akan ada seorang gelandangan bertopi berban kartu kuning meminta uang, dan Jake pun memberinya uang sesuai perintah Al. Yellow Card Man menanyakan siapa Jake, malah sebaliknya ia menanyakan siapa gelandangan itu. Uang pemberian Al sangat berguna, alat bayar di restauran. Hanya dua menit, begitu ucap Al, meyakinkannya. Ia kembali ke tahun 2011 juga mudah tinggal melangkah dan menutup mata.

Jake pun semakin mahir sebagai penjelajah waktu. Berita sadis pembantaian keluarga Dunning menyita perhatiannya, ia memutuskan tinggal menetap dalam tahun 1958, ingin mengubah sejarah, dan menyelamatkan keluraga Dunning. Jake mengambil nama George Amberson, dan beruntung mendapat tawaran menjadi guru Bahasa Inggris. Awalnya ia menyamar penulis novel yang mencari ketenangan. Bahasa tubuhnya pun mampu meyakinkan warga sekitar dn memberinya lowongan guru bahasa di sebuah sekolah. George dengan sabar mengikuti kegiatan Frank Dunning si tukang jagal, terkenal di kalangan ibu-ibu rumah tangga. Mereka sudah mengantri menunggu di depan toko daging sebelum Frank tiba. Frank sangat rupawan, rapi, dan tampilannya selalu bersih. Bagi ibu-ibu dia orang baik, tokonya ada di pusat pasar.

Hanya Jake yang tahu bahwa Frank akan membantai anggota keluarganya. Frank muda jatuh cinta pada gadis tercantik di kampungnya. Hamil membuat keduaanya kawin muda. Pertengkaran tidak terhindarkan, Frank kerap mabuk, istrinya yang cantik mengancan minta bercerai dan membawa anaknya. Penduduk sekitar hanya tahu istrinya telah lari dan membawa bayi mereka. Frank pun akhirnya menikah kembali. Istri barunya juga molek, Doris memberinya empat anak: Troy, Arthur, Harry, dan si mungil Ellen.

Frank Dunning kembali mabuk-mabukan dan kerap bertengkar dengan Doris. Jake menyaksikan pasangan itu tidak harmonis. Jake memiliki hobi nongkrong di restauran dan bar berlama-lama, ia pun banyak mendapati banyak informasi, yang tidak pernah tertulis di surat kabar yang ia baca di masa depan. Pada akhirnya ia bertemu dengan mantan ipar Frank Dunning. Lelaki itu mencurigai Frank telah membunuh adik perempuannya dan bayai mereka. Istri pertama Frank Dunning benar-benar hilang tanpa kabar dan tidak pernah menghubugi keluarganya.

Deke Simmons kepala sekolah di mana Jake mengajar sangat banyak membantu dirinya. Sertifikat mengajar Jake palsu. Tidak terelakkan, Dekke dan istrinya akhirnya mencium kejanggalan dalam diri Jake. Hanya pasangan itu yang tahu siapa Jake sebenarnya. Kecurigaan ipar Dunning juga terdeteksi oleh Jake yang menguntit sang jagal setiap hari. Jake pun masuk dalam keluarga itu dan sempat akrab dengan anak-anak Dunning, Jake tinggal tidak jauh dari kediaman keluarga Dunning. Semakin mengenal dan berbaur dengan anak dan istri Dunning membuat Jake bertekad ingin menyelamatkan mereka dari kesadisan Frank.

Jake sudah bersiap sebelum hari pembantaian tepatnya perayaan Hallowen. Guru itu memutuskan menembak Frank sebelum ia membantai keluarganya dengan palu. Jake memasuki rumah dan mendapati Frank tengah mabuk sudah sempat memukul kepala anaknya Arthur dan istrinya. Arthur dan istrinya tidak bisa diselamatkan, Harry dan Ellen selamat. Peluru Jake melumpuhkan Frank, tapi tidak membuatnya mati. Tidak tinggal diam, Jake akhirnya menembak mati Frank saat berziarah ke makam istri dan anaknya. Berita di surat kabar menuding nama orang lain pelakunya. Berita sadis tentang Dunning ini pun menjadi topik setiap orang, George Amberson tidak disebut. Bagi Harry dan Ellen, George adalah malaikat pelindung mereka.

Jake kembali ke tahun 2011, dan menjalani harinya. Perceraiannya dengan istrinya mengganggu hidupnya. Christy Epping tidak stabil dan sering mabuk hingga mendapat rawatan di panti rehabilitasi, keduanya pun bercerai. Jake sangat bahagia saat pertama kali bertemu Christy di sebuah klub dansa, kehidupan mereka sangat romantik. Perpisahan dengan istrinya membuat Epping terpuruk dalam perasaan sedih dan gundah. Kesehatan Al memburuk, ia akhirnya meninggal dunia. Jake semakin berpikir lebih jauh dalam hidupnya, menerima tawaran kawannya Al. Ia ingin memaknainya dengan kemampuannya balik ke masa lampau.

George Amberson guru Bahasa Inggris itu ingin mengubah dunia, pembunuhan JFK juga masih tetap misteri baginya apakah benar si pembunuh Lee Harvey Oswald benar pelaku tunggal. Jake ingin masuk ke kehidupan Oswald dan menggagalkan pembunuhan Presiden JFK. Dengan aneka informasi dari masa depan ia membuat daftar tentang semua yang berhubungan dengan tempat kejadian dan Oswald. Jake menjalani dua kehidupan. Ia tidak bisa lepas dari kehidupan kota kecil Derry, di mana ia bertemu gadis cantik. Gadis yang baru saja diterima bekerja di perpustakaan sekolah membuatnya jatuh cinta. Jalinan asmara keduanya sempat terhalang, Sadie bersuami. Sadie, gadis lugu, menikah dengan teman satu kampungnya John Clayton, lelaki konvensional dan religius. Kedua keluarga mereka sangat bangga dan senang dengan pernikahan keduanya.

Sadie tidak pernah tahu John orang berperilaku seks aneh, selama empat tahun menikah ia tidak pernah disentuh. Belakangan John dalam rawatan psikolog, mereka sudah hidup terpisah. John sangat cemburu dengan kehadiran Jake pada mantan istrinya. Lelaki tidak stabil itu menyiksa Sadie dan mengancam akan membunuh satu dari keduanya.

Pistol yang sama, George atau Jake menembak mati John dalam upaya bela diri dari pisau John. Sadie terluka parah, wajahnya rusak oleh sayatan pisau John. Tragedi itu pun masuk surat kabar lokal, Jake menjadi pahlawan penyelamat Sadie. Uang sangat pas-pasan bagi guru seperti George Amberson. Ia telah melakukan riset dan mempelajari pertandingan baik World Series ataupun tinju. George dan Sadie memenangkan taruhan tinju, dan membuat Geoge incaran kelompok mafia. Pada dunia Oswald juga George memenangkan taruhan World Series, uang besar. Kemenangan George membuat mafia Marcello menarik perhatian dan membuat Jake habis dipukuli hingga nyaris mati.

Memasuki tahun enam puluhan Jake menjalani dua kehidupan, dunia Sadie dan dunia Oswald. Ia dengan mondar-mandir berkendara, Dallas dan Derry tidak begitu jauh. Jake sengaja menyewa apartemen di tempat Oswld tinggal, ia persis tinggal di bawah apartemen Oswald. Ia sangat terpesona dengan kecantikan Marina Oswald, gadis pirang dan cantik asal Minsk. Rupawan, mengingatkan Jake pada Sadie. Ia mengamati dari keluarga Oswald dari jauh dan rutinitas mereka. Wajah keduanya persis di berita-berita pembunuhan JFK, sekarang sangat nyata bagi Jake. Seperti melayang saat Marina mengetuk pintu Jake, gadis beraksen Rusia memperkenalkan diri dalam bahasa Inggris terbata-bata, ia menanyakan tentang suaminya, Lee Oswald yang tidak kembali. Jake sempat terpana bertatap mata dengan Marina, wanita itu benar-benar nyata di hadapannya dan menyapanya.

Sekembali Oswald dari Rusia, ibunya sangat tidak menyukai dan mengkhawatirkan Marina. Perang dingin Amerika dan Rusia tengah bergejolak apalagi peluncuran Sputnik milik Russia tahun 1957 memukul Amerika. Marguerite Oswald menganggap Marina adalah musuh, ditambah ia tidak bisa berbahasa Inggris. Parasnya bak bintang film membuat mata lelaki terpana. Oswald tidak memiliki pekerjaan, June Oswald masih bayi dalam pangakuan ibunya, calon bayi kedua dalam perut Marina. Oswald, mantan CIA, hari-harinya dalam pencarian kerja. Ia pun bertemu dengan lelaki expat asal Rusia yang membutuhkan guru les untuk putranya. Marina berhasil membawa uang ke rumah, dan akhirnya mendapatkan teman, kemudian ia juga mendapat pekerjaan memberi kursus bahasa Rusia pada anak orang kaya.

Kejiwaan Oswald makin tidak stabil, sering memukul Marina, beberapa kali Jake mendengar pertengkaran mereka. Bayi June menangis keras. Ia tidak paham betul isi pertengkaran, mereka berbahasa Rusia. Jake mendapati Lee sering bertemu dengan beberapa orang yang ia tahu ada dalam surat kabar. Mereka adalah anggota FBI dan akhirnya Oswald mendapat pekerjaan di sebuah percetakan di Dallas. Di otak Oswald ketimpangan sosial dan sistem Amerika tidak cocok dengannya. Ia mengaguni Karl Marx dan juga kerap membahas Fidel Castro, Presiden Kuba dengan kawan-kawannya.

Untuk mencari pekerjaan, ia sempat terpisah dari Marina. Wanita Rusia itu ditampung oleh teman barunya, dan akhirnya Marina diajak pindah ke Dallas. Hari-hari mendekati tanggal berdarah 22 November 1963, Jake telah menyiapkan sepucuk pistol, mempelajari rute parade dan gedung Oswald menembak. Ia bertekad menembak Oswald hari itu. Kalau Jake membunuh Oswald sebelum kedatangan JFK, semuanya akan berantakan. Ia akan dimasukkan dalam penjara selamanya atau dianggap gila membunuh tanpa motivasi. Kehadiran JFK dan wapres telah menjadi tajuk berita berhari-hari sebelumnya. Hotel di Dallas telah penuh, tapi akhirnya Jake berhasil mendapat kamar di hotel Alphonso.

Setelah sembuh dan menjalani operasi wajah Sadie sembuh, ia semakin curiga dengan gelagat George yang tidak natural. Sedikit demi sedikit Jake mengaku dirinya adalah Jake Epping dan upaya penyelamatan Presiden JFK. Sadie sulit memercayai di masa Jake Epping, tahun 2011, Presiden Amerika berkulit hitam.

Jake mendapati Oswald dan berharap menembak lelaki itu sebelum mengarahkan senapannya pada presiden. Parade sudah ramai, Jake sudah dekat dengan Oswald. Tembakan meletus, Sadie menghadang peluru Oswald, presiden selamat. Kesedihan Jake tak terbendung, Sadie tewas menjadi perisai JFK. Presiden JFK menelepon Jake dan berterima kasih, secara terpisah ibu negara, Jackie Kennedy, berterima kasih pada Jake dan turut berduka atas kematian Sadie. Jake kembali dalam berita, ia diinvestigasi oleh FBI dan nyaris ketahuan kejanggalan Jake. Namanya telah dua kali muncul dalam berita saat kasus Dunning dan Sadie atas nama George Amberson. 

Kematian Sadie membuat Jake terpukul, ia kembali ke tahun lima puluhan untuk menemui gadisnya. Sayang, Sadie tidak mengenalinya, hanya Jake yang tahu mereka adalah pasangan kekasih di suatu waktu. Jake mengunjungi Harry Dunning versi tua dan mengetahui Ellen masih hidupnya, karirnya adalah seorang DJ. Harry, lelaki duduk di kursi roda, akhirnya mengerti bahwa malaikat pelindungnya adalah George Amberson dan sekaligus orang yang menembak mati ayahnya di kuburan.

******

13 September 2017