Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (63 page)

As the freezing winds rage outside of the building, Roland tells his
tet
a story from his youth. Just after the death of his mother, GABRIELLE DESCHAIN, Roland and his
ka
-mate, JAMIE DeCURRY, were sent to the town of DEBARIA to investigate murders committed by a shapeshifting monster known as a SKIN-MAN. While protecting the only living witness to one of the skin-man’s massacres—a young blond boy named BILL STREETER—the younger Roland also recounted a story. Serenaded by the winds of a simoom, Roland told Young Bill a tale called “The Wind Through the Keyhole,” which told the story of a boy named TIM ROSS. While on a quest to find the wizard MAERLYN, Young Tim was faced with the horrors of a starkblast.

W:4
(Oy’s behavior),
W:5
(Oy),
W:13–15, W:16, W:17–31
(storm is coming),
W:46, W:67, W:68, W:166, W:173, W:220
(throcken),
W:224–27
(throcken,
Fagonard tribe),
W:232–47, W:252, W:254, W:255, W:256–57, W:258, W:305–6

STAUNTON, ANDREW

A NEW YORK CITY foot patrolman. His partner is NORRIS WEAVER.

II:380–84, III:262
(indirect)

STEVENS, BELINDA

See
PIPER SCHOOL CHARACTERS

STOCKWORTH, RICHARD

See
JOHNS, ALAIN

STOKES, DUSTIN

See
TREE VILLAGE CHARACTERS
: STOKES, DUSTIN

STONEHAM, MAINE, CHARACTERS

See
MAINE CHARACTERS

STOUTHEART, TIM

See
ROSS, TIM

STRAW WILLEM

See
TREE VILLAGE CHARACTERS

STRAKER

See
VAMPIRES
: TYPE ONE: BARLOW, KURT

STRAW

See
CAN-TOI

STREET ANGEL

See
CALLAHAN, FATHER DONALD FRANK
: CALLAHAN’S HOME SHELTER ASSOCIATES: MAGRUDER, ROWAN

STREETER, BILL (COOKIE)

See
SKIN-MAN
: SKIN-MAN’S VICTIMS: JEFFERSON RANCH

STREETER, OLD BILL

See
STREETER, YOUNG BILL

STREETER, YOUNG BILL (YOUNG BILL OF THE JEFFERSON)

Young Bill Streeter was the only witness to the massacre at the JEFFERSON RANCH, a crime committed by the shapeshifting SKIN-MAN whom Roland and JAMIE DeCURRY were trying to hunt down during their stay in the railhead town of DEBARIA. Roland and Jamie found Young Bill while following the skin-man’s bloody backtrail through the ranch. As the two young gunslingers
stood outside an abandoned TACK SHED and hostelry, they heard moaning. They ran inside the shed, only to see a heap of old tack heaving up and down as if it were breathing. As they watched, the tangle of hames, bridles, cinch straps, and reins tumbled away to either side, birthing a terrified blue-eyed boy. The boy wore jeans and an old, unbuttoned shirt. His white-blond hair stuck out in all directions. In a trembling voice, the lad asked whether the monster was gone. As soon as Roland assured him that it was, the boy passed out.

Before the skin-man’s killing spree, Young Bill (son of the ranch’s cook) had been the ranch’s bunkhouse boy. He’d been responsible for making bunks, coiling rope, cinching bedrolls, polishing saddles, and setting the gate at the end of the day after the horses were turned in. This was a lot of responsibility for a lad who was probably not yet eleven years old. Other than the psychopathic ranch foreman, ELROD NUTTER, who liked to pick on anyone smaller than himself, most of the proddies and pokies at the ranch were fond of Billy. TINY BRADDOCK taught him how to make a lasso, and Roscoe was teaching him the bow. If he’d survived, FREDDY TWO-STEP would have shown him how to brand. Sadly, the skin-man’s murders left Billy not only friendless but also orphaned. Bill’s da, COOKIE, numbered among the dead.

Under a willow tree which grew to one side of the Jefferson house, Roland, Jamie, and SHERIFF PEAVY questioned Bill about the night of the attack. Other than stating that he had been camping out beyond the corral, Billy could remember almost nothing. The sheriff thought that the boy’s mind had been scrubbed clean by shock, but Roland knew better. Since Roland, Jamie, and Peavy knew that the skin-man was most probably a salt miner—but one who could sit a horse—Roland sent his
ka
-mate and the sheriff to LITTLE DEBARIA to round up the SALTIES who could ride. Deputy KELLIN FRYE and Kellin’s son VIKKA went with them. To Vikka, Roland gave a very specific job. He was to spread the rumor that Young Bill Streeter had seen the skin-man in his human form. Roland hoped that this rumor would help to flush out the killer.

While the other lawmen and Vikka were occupied with their own job, Roland took Billy back to Debaria. On the way our gunslinger used the
howken
—or the play of a shell over his quickly moving fingers—to hypnotize Billy. While in this trance-state, Young Bill remembered the night of the murders in great detail. Since Elrod had gotten hold of a bottle and was bound to turn mean, Billy had taken his blanket and his shaddie so that he could sleep under the stars. Hours later he was awoken by screams, roars, and fighting sounds issuing from the bunkhouse. Running to the bunkhouse’s grease-paper window, he peered inside. Amid rivers of blood, he saw an enormous bear tearing off the arm of Elrod Nutter and hitting him with it before biting off the man’s head. Young Bill ran for the big house, but when
sai
Jefferson accidentally shot at him, Billy ran for the old hostelry and hid under the tack. Unaware of Young Bill’s presence, the beast—now in the form of a giant cat—entered the hostelry, where it soon transformed into a screaming human. From his hiding place, Bill saw the skin-man’s feet, and noticed that there was a blue ring tattooed around one of his ankles, and that the ring was broken by a white mark of some kind. (Roland did not realize the significance of this white mark until much later in the tale.)

After drawing forth memories from Young Bill’s deep mind, Roland took the lad back to the sheriff’s office in Debaria and put him in the lockup to keep him
safe. He then visited Debaria’s smithy, where he requested the smith to forge a silver bullet for him—the only kind of bullet that could kill a skin-man. Returning to the JAIL, Roland joined Billy in Debaria’s drunk-and-disorderly cell. There, serenaded by the raging winds of a simoom and eating stew and candy, Roland told Young Bill the story of “The Wind Through the Keyhole,” and of the heroic young lad named TIM ROSS, also known as Tim Stoutheart. Like Young Bill, Tim Ross’s father had been murdered, and Tim was destined to identify his killer.

When Jamie DeCurry, Sheriff Peavy, Constable WILL WEGG, Deputy Frye, and Frye’s son Vikka returned from Little Debaria with all the salties who could ride, Roland took the men into the BUSTED LUCK saloon. After giving the miners a drink, he rounded up the ten tattoed salties who had done time in the BEELIE STOCKADE. These fellows he took back to the jail. As Young Bill (pretending to be Tim Stoutheart) waited in his protective cell, the salt miners lined up according to age and paraded past. At Young Bill’s request, the salties walked by a second time, but with their pants legs hiked up to show their ankles. At that point Bill recognized OLLIE ANG’s blue ankle ring, which was broken by a thick line of white scar tissue which ran all the way up to Ang’s knee.

What happened next transpired so quickly that neither Roland nor any of the others were able to prevent it. STEG LUKA, the oldest of the miners, grabbed Ang by the shoulders, spit in his face, and called him a murdering, skin-changing bastard. But even as Steg Luka attacked, Ang transformed into a giant snake, first ramming his body into Steg’s throat and out the back of his neck, and then battening down on Will Wegg’s arm, injecting him with deadly poison. As Billy screamed, the snake lunged at Roland, but before he could strike, our gunslinger shot his silver bullet into the creature’s yawning mouth. In death, the skin-man transformed once again into its human form.

At the end of the tale, we are told that the orphaned Billy Streeter would be cared for by the SISTERS OF SERENITY until he came of age.

W:79–83
(79 described; 81 bunkhouse boy),
W:84, W:85, W:86, W:87–97, W:98, W:99–102, W:104–6, W:267–70, W:273, W:280
(indirect),
W:281–82, W:283–94
(284 Tim Stoutheart),
W:295, W:296

MILLIE (MULE):
Millie the mule was Young Bill’s special friend. According to Billy, Millie was solid as a dromedary. When ROLAND took Young Bill back to the SHERIFF’S OFFICE and DEBARIA JAIL to keep him safe, the boy rode Millie. Bill’s feet came almost to the ground. W:87, W:88, W:98

STREETER, BILL (COOKIE):
See
SKIN-MAN:
SKIN-MAN’S VICTIMS: JEFFERSON RANCH

STREETER, OLD BILL:
Young Bill’s granther, or grandfather. He went into the Clearing two years before the story of the SKIN-MAN took place. W:80

STRONG, GARRETT

See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: FARMERS (SMALLHOLD)

STROTHER

See
DEBARIA CHARACTERS
: SHERIFF’S OFFICE

STUFFY-GUYS

See
MID-WORLD FOLKLORE

STUTTERING BILL

See
NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS

SUCCUBUS

See
DEMONS/SPIRITS/DEVILS

SUCKERBATS

See
DEMONS/SPIRITS/DEVILS

SULLIVAN, JOHN (SULLY JOHN)

See
BREAKERS
: BRAUTIGAN, TED

SUNSHINE

See
WIDOW SMACK

SURREY, DAVID

See
PIPER SCHOOL

SUSAN

See
DELGADO, SUSAN

SUSANNAH

See
DEAN, SUSANNAH

SUSANNAH-MIO

See
DEAN, SUSANNAH
;
see also
MIA

SWEDISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS

See
DEAN, SUSANNAH
: SUSANNAH’S PRESENT ASSOCIATES: VAN WYCK, MATHIESSEN

SWORD OF ELD

See
ELD, ARTHUR
: EXCALIBUR

**TAHEEN

The
taheen
servants of the CRIMSON KING have the heads of either beasts or birds but the bodies of men. Although JAKE, CALLAHAN, and SUSANNAH see several of these bizarre creatures while in NEW YORK CITY’s DIXIE PIG, most of the
taheen
work in END-WORLD. (There, at least, they don’t have to pass for human.) Unlike the rat-headed CAN-TOI (or low men), the
taheen
do not hide their beaks and snouts behind humanoid masks, nor do they believe that they are
becoming
human. Consistent with their appearance, the voices of mammal-headed
taheen
sound like yelps and growls. Although the
taheen
can speak and
reason, their brains must be drastically different from ours, since their thoughts cannot be read by the psychic BREAKERS. (Any psychic trying to prog one of these creatures will only hear white noise.)

According to Roland, the
taheen
arose from neither the PRIM nor the natural world, but rather from somewhere in between. They are sometimes called the third people, though we are never told exactly what this means. Those
taheen
employed as guards at the DEVAR-TOI tend to man the watchtowers, since they have sharper eyes than either their hume or
can-toi
comrades.

If you thought the CHILDREN OF RODERICK’s taste for snotty tissues was hard to stomach, you’ll find
taheen
delicacies even worse. If you want to form an alliance with one of these creatures, offer him some pus. You’ll make a friend for life, since the
taheen
think that pus is as sweet as candy. Unfortunately, they can’t take advantage of the pimples and rashes that plague their human charges in THUNDERCLAP, since the dark land’s emanations poison all human body fluids.
Taheen
don’t get such blemishes themselves; however, those who work in the Devar do find that their skins tend to crack and ooze and their noses (or snouts) tend to bleed spontaneously.

The
taheen
are found in the 2003 version of
The Gunslinger,
but not the original version. In the new
Gunslinger,
Roland sees a
taheen
with a man’s body but a raven’s head wandering in the MOHAINE DESERT. According to the BORDER DWELLER BROWN, the
taheen
is searching for a place called ALGUL SIENTO.

V:26
(indirect),
V:150, V:660, VII:25, VII:126, VII:129–30, VII:200, VII:201, VII:204, VII:207, VII:209, VII:221, VII:223, VII:224, VII:225, VII:226, VII:229, VII:230, VII:231, VII:235, VII:239, VII:241, VII:244, VII:269, VII:281, VII:289, VII:292–93, VII:300, VII:326, VII:337, VII:352, VII:356–82
(Devar-Toi battle),
VII:392, VII:393, VII:394, VII:448, VII:554, VII:808

BEAR-HEADED TAHEEN:
A
taheen
employed at the DEVAR-TOI. VII:381

BEAVER-HEADED TAHEEN:
This
taheen
guards the DEVAR’s east watchtower. He’s shot by our
ka-tet
mate SUSANNAH DEAN. VII:350, VII:364

BIRDMEN TAHEEN:

CANARY/CANARYMAN/MEIMAN/TWEETY BIRD/WASEAU-TAHEEN:
Meiman (who is called Canary by his friends, Canaryman by SUSANNAH DEAN, and Tweety Bird by JAKE CHAMBERS) has a feathered, dark yellow head, eyes like drops of liquid tar, and talon-hands. He is one of the first true
taheen
which Susannah Dean (and later Jake Chambers and PERE CALLAHAN) encounters in the DIXIE PIG.