Synopsis: While tracking the Man in Black through the wilderness of a parallel universe, Roland the Gunslinger is near death when he comes upon a way station where he encounters a young boy who has suppressed memories of dying in New York City in our universe. While resting there, he reminisces about his youth, and an incident during his early training when he learned that a cook who was a friend of his was involved in a treasonous mass poisoning plot, and the feelings he had when he turned him in and watched him hang. Then Roland and the boy set off to follow the Man in Black, while Roland feels that they are being led deliberately, and the boy will be a sacrifice.