mother, but there it is. Okay, I knew there was going to be a fire and that people were going to die. Was that sufficient to save them? Answer: it was not sufficient to save all of them, because people only truly believe after the fact. The ones who came to the Chatsworth house instead of going to Cathy’s were saved, but it’s important to remember that R.C. didn’t have the party because he believed my prediction. He was very upfront about that. He had the party because he thought it would help me have peace of mind. He was ... humoring me. He believed after. Patty Strachan’s mother believed after. After-after-after. By then it was too late for the dead and the burned.
“So, Question 2: Could I have changed the outcome?
“Yes. I could have driven a car right through the front of the place. Or, I could have burned it down myself that afternoon.
“Question 3: What would the results of either action have been to me?
“Imprisonment, probably. If I took the car option and then lightning struck it later that night. I suppose I could have argued ... no, it doesn’t wash. Common experience may recognize some sort of psychic ability in the human mind, but the law sure as hell doesn’t. I think now, if I had it to do over again, I would do one of those things and never mind the consequences to me. Is it possible that I didn’t completely believe my own prediction?
“The matter of Stillson is horribly similar in all respects, except, thank God, that I have a lot more lead time.
“So, back to square one. I don’t want Greg Stillson to become President. How can I change that outcome?
“1 . Go back to New Hampshire and ‘jine up,’ as he puts it. Try to throw a few monkey wrenches into the America Now party. Try to sabotage him. There’s dirt enough under the rug. Maybe I could sweep some of it out.
“2 . Hire someone else to get the dirt on him. There’s enough of Roger’s money left over to hire someone good. On the other hand, I got the feeling that Lancte was pretty good. And Lancte’s dead.
“3 . Wound or cripple him. The way Arthur Bremmer crippled Wallace, the way whoever-it-was crippled Larry Flynt.
“4 . Kill him. Assassinate him.
“Now, some of the drawbacks. The first option isn’t sure enough. I could end up doing nothing more constructive than getting myself trounced, the way Hunter Thompson did when he was researching his first book, that one on the Hell’s Angels. Even worse, this fellow Elliman may be familiar with what I look like, as a result of what happened at the Trimbull rally. Isn’t it more or less S.O.P. to keep a file on people who may be dangerous to your guys? I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Stillson had one guy on his payroll whose only job was to keep updated files on weird people and kooks. Which definitely includes me.
“Then there’s the second option. Suppose all the dirt has already come out? If Stillson has already formed his higher political aspirations—and all his actions seem to point that way—he may already have cleaned up his act. And another thing: dirt under the rug is only as dirty as the press wants to make it, and the press likes Stillson. He cultivates them. In a novel I suppose I would turn private detective myself and ‘get the goods on him,’ but the sad fact is that I wouldn’t know where to begin. You could argue that my ability to ‘read’ people, to find things that have been lost (to quote Sam) would give me a boost. If I could find out something about Lancte, that would turn the trick. But isn’t it likely that Stillson delegates all that to Sonny Elliman? And I cannot even be sure, despite my suspicions, that Edgar Lancte was still on Stillson’s trail when he was murdered. It is possible that I might hang Sonny Elliman and still not finish Stillson.
“Overall, the second alternative is just not sure enough. The stakes are enormous, so much so that I don’t even dare let myself think about ‘the big picture’ very often. It brings on a very bitch-kitty of a headache every time.
“I have even considered, in my wilder moments, trying to hook him on drugs the way the character Gene Hackman played in The French Connection II was, or driving him batty with LSD