(September 3, 1959)

Five years have passed since Sadie met Gordie LaChance, and the two became close friends. Overtime, she had met his three friends and became close with them as well over the next four years.

Their names were Chris Chambers, Teddy Dechamp, and Vern Tessio.

Chris Chambers was the leader of their small gang as well as Gordie and Sadie's best friend. His life wasn't great though. His father was an alcoholic, his brother was a deliquent that ran with Ace. Everyone in Castle Rock believed that Chris would turn out to be just like him. But Chris wasn't anything like that since he had a heart of gold.

Teddy Duchamp was the craziest guy that the four hung around with. Sadie knew that he had chronic anger issues, sometimes getting into fights, or even insulting Vern every chance he got. His father was given the fits of rage. He had held Teddy's ear to his stove and almost burnt it off. However, Teddy never resented him despite all of that.

Vern Tessio was the most worrisome, rounded kid in their gang. He always had a ravenous appetite as well as a big heart. All of his friends are what kept him going.

Angela and Denny had dated for three years before Denny's untimely demise because of a jeep accident in April of that year.

Sadie had developed a crush with Chris over the years, which Gordie was aware of.

Sadie grabbed her flannel from her bed post. She was getting ready to meet up with the guys. She wore a gray shirt with torn jeans and her sneakers and a red flannel over shirt. Her shaggy hair had come down to her shoulders, bangs hung over her eyes.

Just as she was heading to the door, Angela, who was seventeen now, came into the living room. "Where you going, sis?" she asked.

"Gotta meet up with Chris and them," Sadie replied. "Alright, but you know Aunt Terri wants you back by seven tonight for dinner," Angela informed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know the routine. I'll see ya later," Sadie said, heading out of the door.

(Castle Rock Town)

It was really warm that summer day. She makes it into town and ran into Gordie, who was coming out of a store with a magazine in his hands.

"Gordo!" she called, jogging towards him. Gordie looked up and saw Sadie running towards him. "Hey, Sadie, what's up?" he greeted with a shy grin.

"Goin' over to the tree house. Isn't that where you're goin' or are you sightseeing?" she asked, pulling out a cigarette she had in her pocket.

"I was just heading there myself. Wanna join me?" he asked. "Sure. Let's go," Sadie said, walking with him.

The town had 1,281 people but to Gordie it felt like the whole world.

They make their way down towards the treehouse and Gordie does the 'secret knock' that only their gang knows.

(Inside the Treehouse)

The door opened and the two friends climbed inside where Chris and Teddy were waiting.

Chris passed Sadie a smoke, which she took gratefully. Chris lit it for her since she didn't have a lighter on her.

She knew how to play poker, which she enjoyed very much.

"Hey, how do you know if a French man has been in your backyard?" Chris asked, holding his smoke between his fingers.

"I'm French, okay?" Teddy said, sounding offended.

"Yeah, right, your garbage can's empty and your fucking dog's pregnant," Sadie said, getting Chris and Gordie to laugh.

She took a drag of her smoke.

"Didn't I just say I was French?" Teddy repeated.

Chris then knocked on the small table and called out, "I knock,"

"Shit..." Teddy hissed under his breath, laying his cards down.

"Twenty-nine," Chris said. "Agh, twenty," Sadie sighed. "Twenty-two," Teddy said.

"Piss up a rope!" Gordie shouted, slamming his cards on the table.

Chris and Teddy laughed hysterically. "Gordie's out! Ole Gordie just bit the bag and stepped out the door!" Teddy said while laughing.

Teddy then knocked and said, "I knock,"

Chris looked up at him in disbelief. "You four-eyed pile of shit!" he said.

"Pile of shit has a thousand eyes!" Teddy said with wide eyes.

Chris, Sadie, and Gordie laughed at Teddy's expense. "What? What's so funny? C'mon, I've got thirty! What do you two got?" Teddy asked.

"Sixteen," Chris said with a laugh. "Twenty-three," Sadie laughed.

"Yeah, you two keep on laughing. You've gotten your ride!" Teddy said with an eye roll.

"Oh, hardy har, wise ass," Sadie said teasingly.

Then, a few knocks came from the bottom of the treehouse. "That's not the secret knock," Gordie said, looking at the magazine he bought.

"I forget the secret knock, let me in!" Vern shouted. The three boys and only girl looked at one another and said, "Vern,"

Chris slapped the cards on the table and moved it. "C'mon, you guys, open up!" Vern groaned.

Chris pulled up the trap door to let Vern inside. "Oh, man, you guys are not going to believe this! This is so boss!" Vern shouted as he climbed inside the tree house, completely out of breath.

He sat back against one of the walls of the treehouse. "Oh, man! Wait til you hear this! Wait til you hear this! You won't believe this! It's unbelievable! Let me catch my breath. I ran all the way from my house," Vern went on, breathing heavily.

The other four looked at each other before they started to tease Vern by singing, "I ran all the way home! Just to say I'm sorry, sorry, oh!"

"You know what? Forget it. I don't have to tell you anything," Vern spat, giving up on what the news was.

"Hold on, you guys. *Looks at Vern* What is it, man?" Chris said, stopping them from singing.

Vern became excited and said with a smile, "Okay, great! You won't believe this, sincerely!" Chris and Teddy cut him off by singing that same song again.

"Oh, screw you guys," Vern said, shaking his head. "Alright, alright, guys. So, what's the 411, Verno?" Sadie asked, feeling bad for her friend.

"Can you guys camp out tonight? I mean, if you tell your folks that we're gonna tent out in my backfield?" Vern asked the group.

"Yeah sure, but my dad's kind of on a mean streak. He's been drinking a lot, you know," Chris replied, fixing up the deck of cards for another round.

"You've got to, man! Sincerely, you won't believe this! Can you, Gordie?" Vern asked. "Yeah, probably," Gordie replied, flipping through his magazine he bought from that store.

"Awesome! Can you, Sadie?" Vern asked excitedly. "Can't make any promises on that one. I'll talk to my aunt about it," Sadie replied, taking her set of cards for the next round.

"So what are you pissin' and moaning about, Verno?" Teddy asked, slapping the makeshift table as he grabbed for his cards.

"I knock," Chris said, knocking on the table. "What!? You liar! You ain't got no pat hand! You didn't deal yourself no pat hand!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Make your draw, shitheap," Chris taunted playfully. "Let's face it, Duchamp, this just ain't your game," Sadie said with a cheeky grin. "Oh, it's on now, girl," Teddy said.

"I'd like to see you try," Sadie teased, getting Chris and Gordie to laugh.

Then, Vern asked a simple question. A simple question that would be the start of their life-changing journey: "You guys wanna go see a dead body?"

The second Vern asked that, everybody stopped what they were doing. It was silent except for Bobby Day on the radio.

"Well, I was under the porch digging, y'know?" Vern began. Chris turned the radio down so they could hear what Vern was saying.

They all understood what Vern meant right away. At the start of the school year, he kept a quarter-jar of pennies underneath his house. But he would always dig around for it because his mom threw away the map that he made for it a week later.

He spent nine months trying to find it. Nine months, man. Didn't know whether you should laugh or cry about it.

From what Vern said, he had heard Billy and his friend Charlie Hogan were talking about how they had seen Ray Browers, a kid who had gone missing three days before.

He had gone out to pick blueberries and nobody had seen him since. Apparently, Charlie Hogan told Billy that they wouldn't be going to tell the cops because they would ask about how they got to Harlow with a boosted car. They wouldn't tell this to anybody either.

"I know the Back Harlow Road! It comes to a dead-end by the Royal River. The train tracks are right there! My dad and I used to fish for cossies out there!" Teddy said after Vern was finished with his story.

"Jesus Christ, man. If they would've known you were under there, they would've killed you," Chris said. "Chris is right, Vern. You got very lucky," Sadie agreed with a nod.

"Could he have gotten all the way from Chamberlain to Harlow? That's really far," Gordie said, hand on his chin.

"Yeah! Yeah, right. And then after dark, the train must have come along– El Smacko!" Teddy said as he punched the palm of his other hand.

The thought of that kid getting hit by a train sent shivers down Sadie's spine. Then, an idea sparked in Chris' head. "Hey. Hey, you guys! I bet you anything that if we find him, we'll get our pictures in the paper!" he said, lightening the mood.

"Yeah, yeah, we could even be on tv!" Teddy proclaimed excitedly. "Sure!" Chris said quickly. "We'll be heroes!" Teddy said.

"Yeah!" Chris replied. Sadie and Vern looked unsure of the idea. "I don't know. Billy will know I found out," Vern said uncomfortably.

"He's not going to care. Cuz it's going to be us that finds him; Not Billy and Charlie Hogan in that boosted car. They'll probably pin a medal on you, Vern," Gordie theorized, making a lot of sense.

"Yeah, you think so?" Vern said, now smiling. "Sure!" Chris exclaimed. "What'll we tell our folks?" Vern asked.

"Easy, we'll tell them we're tenting out on your backfield. You'll tell you're sleeping over at Teddy's and, um…" Sadie started, but had trouble finishing her statement.

"We'll say we're going to the drag-races the next day. Until tomorrow at dinner," Gordie said, finishing for her.

Chris smiled at her and Gordie. "Now that's a plan and a half," he said as he gave them some skin, which was their handshake where they ran their hands over each other's forearms.

"But if we do find the kid's body over in South Harlow, they'll know we didn't go to the drag-races! We'll get hided," Vern said worriedly.

"Nobody will care! Cuz everyone is going to be jazzed about what we found, it's not going to make a difference!" Teddy shouted excitedly.

"Yeah! Well, my dad'll hide me anyway. But, hell, that's worth hiding!" Chris said. "Shit, yeah!" Teddy added, just as jovial.

"Let's do it, what'd you say?" Chris asked. "Alright," Teddy nodded. Chris looked at Sadie. "Sadie?" he said.

"Hell yeah!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Gordie?" Chris said, looking at him. "Sure," Gordie shrugged.

"Vern?" Chris said, looking at the chubbier kid. "I don't know…" Vern said with a weak shrug.

"Vern…" Chris said in a teasing voice. "Come on, Verno!" Sadie exclaimed, a tad bit annoyed.

Vern still wasn't budging so Chris and Teddy were giving Vern noogies and pinching his cheeks to get him to agree.

"Okay, okay!" he finally agreed. Chris and Teddy began to cheer. They were all excited discussing this trip and started to talk about the stuff they were going to need to bring.

Unlike the rest of them, Gordie wasn't able to share their enthusiasm. Sadie had to make sure that it was alright when they walked home.

After playing a few more hands in poker, they went home.