On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field.
Авторы: King Stephen Edwin
as many as will agree to do so will be wearing tee-shirts reading DALE BARBARA IS INNOCENT and FREE DALE BARBARA and IMPEACH JAMES RENNIE. There will be tearful reunions, hands pressing against hands with the Dome in between, maybe even attempts to kiss. It: will make excellent TV footage, and it will make excellent propaganda. Most of all, it’s going to make people in your town wonder what they’re doing with an incompetent like you at the controls.’
Big Jim’s voice descended to a thick growl. ‘I won’t allow it.’
‘How are you going to stop it? Over a thousand people. You couldn’t shoot them all.’ When he spoke again, his voice was calm and reasonable. ‘Come on, Selectman, let’s work this out.You can still come out of it clean. You only need to let go of the controls.’
Big Jim saw Junior drifting down the hall toward the front door like a ghost, still wearing his pajama pants and slippers, and barely noticed. Junior could have dropped dead in the hallway and Big Jim would have remained hunched over his desk, the gold baseball clutched in one hand and the telephone in the other. One thought beat in his head: putting Andrea Grinnell in charge, with Officer Tiddies as her second.
It: was a joke.
A bad joke.
‘Colonel Cox, you can go fuck yourself.’
Lie hung up, swiveled his desk chair, and hurled the gold baseball. It hit the signed photo of Tiger Woods. The glass shattered, the frame fell to the floor, and Carter Thibodeau, who was used to striking fear into hearts but who rarely had fear struck into his own, jumped to his feet.
‘Mr Rennie? Are you all right?’
He didn’t look all right. Irregular purple patches flared on his cheeks. His small eyes were wide and bulging from their sockets of hard fat. The vein in his forehead pulsed.
‘They will never take this town from me,’ Big Jim whispered.
‘Course they won’t,’ Carter said. ‘Without you, we’re sunk.’
This relaxed Big Jim to some degree. He reached for the telephone, then remembered Randolph had gone home to bed. The new Chief had gotten precious little rack-time since the crisis began, and had told Carter that he intended to sleep until at least noon. And that was okay. The man was useless, anyway.
‘Carter, make a note. Show it to Morrison, if he’s running things at the PD this morning, then leave it on Randolph’s desk. After that, come right back here.’ He paused to consider for a moment, frowning. ‘And see if Junior’s headed there. He went out while I was talking to Colonel Do-What-I-Want on the telephone. Don’t go looking for him if he’s not, but if he is, make sure he’s all right.’
‘Sure. What’s the message?’
‘»Dear Chief Randolph: Jacqueline Wettington is to be severed from the Chester’s Mill PD immediately.'»
‘Does that mean fired?’
‘Yes indeed.’
Carter was scribbling in his book, and Big Jim gave him time to catch up. He was okay again. Better than okay. He was feeling it. ‘Add, «Dear Officer Morrison: When Wettington comes in today, please inform her she is relieved of duty and tell her to clean out her locker. If she asks you for cause, tell her we are reorganizing the department and her services will no longer be required.»‘
‘Does required have a c in it, Mr Rennie?’
‘The spelling doesn’t matter. The message matters.’
‘Okay. Right.’
‘If she has further questions, she can see me.’
‘Got it. Is that all?’
‘No. Tell whichever one sees her first to take her badge and gun. If she gets poopy and says the gun’s her personal property, they can give her a receipt and tell her it will either be returned or she’ll be reimbursed when this crisis is over.’
Carter scribbled some more, then looked up. ‘What do you think is wrong with Junes, Mr Rennie?’
‘I don’t know. Just megrims, I imagine. Whatever it is, I don’t have time to deal with it right now. There are more pressing matters at hand.’ He pointed at the notebook. ‘Bring me that.’
Carter did. His handwriting was the looping scrawl of a third-grader, but everything was there. Rennie signed it.
9
Carter took the fruits of his secretarial labor to the PD. Henry Morrison greeted them with an incredulity that fell just short of mutiny. Carter also looked around for Junior, but Junior wasn’t there, and no one had seen him. He asked Henry to keep an eye out.
Then, on impulse, he went downstairs to visit Barbie, who was lying on his bunk with his hands behind his head.
‘Your boss called,’ he said. ‘That guy Cox. Mr Rennie calls him Colonel Do-What-I-Want.’
‘I’ll bet he does,’ Barbie said.
Mr Rennie gave him the big fuck you. And you know what? Your Army pal had to eat it and smile. What do you think of that?’
T’m not
