This book is gratefully dedicated to my children. My mother and my wife taught me how to be a man. My children taught me how to be free.

NAOMI RACHEL KING, at fourteen;
JOSEPH HILLSTROM KING, at twelve;
OWEN PHILIP KING, at seven.

Kids, fiction is the truth inside the lie, and thetruth of this fiction is simple enough: the magic exists.

S.K.

'This old town been home long as I remember This town gonna be here long after I'm gone. East side west side take a close look 'round her You been down but you're still in my bones.'

- The Michael Stanley Band


'Old friend, what are you looking for?
After those many years abroad you come
With images you tended
Under foreign skies
Far away from your own land.'

- George Seferis

'Out of the blue and into the black.'

- Neil Young

CONTENTS
PART 1: THE SHADOW BEFORE
1 After the Flood (1957)
2 After the Festival (1984)
3 Six Phone Calls (1985)
Derry: The First Interlude
PART 2: JUNE OF 1958
4 Ben Hanscom Takes a Fall
5 Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil - I
6 One of the Missing: A Tale from the Summer of '58
7 The Dam in the Barrens
8 Georgie's Room and the House on Neibolt Street
9 Cleaning Up
Derry: The Second Interlude
PART 3: GROWNUPS
10 The Reunion
11 Walking Tours
12 Three Uninvited Guests
Derry: The Third Interlude