drug-induced munchies. Jake can sense Smith and tries to use his touch to slow him down. The minivan driver is distracted from the road by his rottweillers, Bullet and Pistol, who are digging in a cooler of meat behind his seat. He doesn’t see King on the roadside ahead, or the truck approaching from the opposite direction.
To save one life, the ka-tet will have to exchange another. Roland has already sacrificed Jake—the boy he now thinks of as his son—once on his quest for the Tower; he will not do so again. If anyone dies this day, Roland is determined it will be him.
When it comes to ka, Roland doesn’t always get his way. Ironically, pain from the very injury he intends to prevent causes his bad leg to betray him when he leaps from the truck. Without a second’s hesitation, Jake steps on and over Roland and seizes King, shielding him.
King doesn’t escape completely. The impact throws him off the road, and the van hits him again and stops on top of him, breaking his hip. Roland rushes to Jake, but the boy pushes him away. Roland needs to make sure King will live. He tries to convince himself that Jake’s injuries are slight, but Jake knows otherwise. He has died twice already.
The van did Roland’s job of kicking the lazy tale-spinner’s yellow ass. King looks worse than Jake, but Roland is sure he’ll survive. Kingrecognizes Roland, greeting him by saying, “You again,” before asking where Eddie is. He hasn’t written about Eddie’s death yet and tries to tell Roland he lost the Beam, but Roland forces him to sit up in spite of his injuries, and points to the sky, where it is perfectly clear. “You didn’t lose it, you turned your coward’s eye away.”
----
The Accident
Most readers will be aware that the incident depicted here bears some resemblance to the accident King suffered in the summer of 1999. In the endnotes, the author calls it a “funhouse mirror” version of the real event. How close are truth and fiction?
Though it isn’t stated in the text, King’s fictional accident takes place around 4:20 P . M . on Saturday, June 19, 1999, the same time as Father Callahan’s fatal appointment with Sombra Corporation fifteen and a half years earlier. The real accident happened at 4:30 P . M . 14
In The Dark Tower, Jake attempted to slow down Smith by having him stop to urinate. In reality, it was King who stepped into the woods. He later said, “It was two months before I was able to take another leak standing up.” Two women observed Smith’s minivan weaving on the road, and one said that she hoped the van didn’t hit King, whom they had just passed. King has the women picking berries, but in reality they were driving.
King was struck as he walked along the shoulder of the road. He had earlier been reading a Bentley Little novel, but he stopped reading when he reached a stretch of road with poor sight lines due to blind curves and hills. He was thrown about fifteen feet off the road by the impact, landing in a grassy patch near a wall of rocks.
As in the fictionalized account, Bryan Smith—who was driving from his campsite into town for groceries (Mars bars)—was distracted from the road by his dog Bullet, 15 who was rummaging around in a cooler of meat behind him. Smith’s other rottweiler, Pistol, didn’t accompany him in the van in the real version of the accident.
Police reports indicated that King probably heard the van at the last minute because he turned slightly, which may have saved his life. He later said that he thinks he tried to leap out of the way. In the fictional version, of course, it was Jake Chambers who was responsible for deflecting the potentially fatal impact. King admits to a break in his memory here—the time during which a gunslinger from Mid-World hypnotized him?
In The Dark Tower, King is alone when struck, but in reality a pedestrian witnessed the accident and another driver arrived on the scene shortly after it happened. Smith, who never saw
To save one life, the ka-tet will have to exchange another. Roland has already sacrificed Jake—the boy he now thinks of as his son—once on his quest for the Tower; he will not do so again. If anyone dies this day, Roland is determined it will be him.
When it comes to ka, Roland doesn’t always get his way. Ironically, pain from the very injury he intends to prevent causes his bad leg to betray him when he leaps from the truck. Without a second’s hesitation, Jake steps on and over Roland and seizes King, shielding him.
King doesn’t escape completely. The impact throws him off the road, and the van hits him again and stops on top of him, breaking his hip. Roland rushes to Jake, but the boy pushes him away. Roland needs to make sure King will live. He tries to convince himself that Jake’s injuries are slight, but Jake knows otherwise. He has died twice already.
The van did Roland’s job of kicking the lazy tale-spinner’s yellow ass. King looks worse than Jake, but Roland is sure he’ll survive. Kingrecognizes Roland, greeting him by saying, “You again,” before asking where Eddie is. He hasn’t written about Eddie’s death yet and tries to tell Roland he lost the Beam, but Roland forces him to sit up in spite of his injuries, and points to the sky, where it is perfectly clear. “You didn’t lose it, you turned your coward’s eye away.”
----
The Accident
Most readers will be aware that the incident depicted here bears some resemblance to the accident King suffered in the summer of 1999. In the endnotes, the author calls it a “funhouse mirror” version of the real event. How close are truth and fiction?
Though it isn’t stated in the text, King’s fictional accident takes place around 4:20 P . M . on Saturday, June 19, 1999, the same time as Father Callahan’s fatal appointment with Sombra Corporation fifteen and a half years earlier. The real accident happened at 4:30 P . M . 14
In The Dark Tower, Jake attempted to slow down Smith by having him stop to urinate. In reality, it was King who stepped into the woods. He later said, “It was two months before I was able to take another leak standing up.” Two women observed Smith’s minivan weaving on the road, and one said that she hoped the van didn’t hit King, whom they had just passed. King has the women picking berries, but in reality they were driving.
King was struck as he walked along the shoulder of the road. He had earlier been reading a Bentley Little novel, but he stopped reading when he reached a stretch of road with poor sight lines due to blind curves and hills. He was thrown about fifteen feet off the road by the impact, landing in a grassy patch near a wall of rocks.
As in the fictionalized account, Bryan Smith—who was driving from his campsite into town for groceries (Mars bars)—was distracted from the road by his dog Bullet, 15 who was rummaging around in a cooler of meat behind him. Smith’s other rottweiler, Pistol, didn’t accompany him in the van in the real version of the accident.
Police reports indicated that King probably heard the van at the last minute because he turned slightly, which may have saved his life. He later said that he thinks he tried to leap out of the way. In the fictional version, of course, it was Jake Chambers who was responsible for deflecting the potentially fatal impact. King admits to a break in his memory here—the time during which a gunslinger from Mid-World hypnotized him?
In The Dark Tower, King is alone when struck, but in reality a pedestrian witnessed the accident and another driver arrived on the scene shortly after it happened. Smith, who never saw
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