The Talisman

Jack remembers an afternoon when his father gave him a model of a London taxi. Dexter Gordon was playing on a saxophone album in the background. He overheard Sloat asking Phil to think about what the player would be like “over there” (190). They discussed the Daydreams in front of him. He remembers Sloat asking, “They have magic like we have physics, right?” (191).

In the memory, Sloat tells Phil he wants to profit by bringing technologies like electricity to the Territories. Phil says that they don’t understand the consequences yet and they must be careful. They talk about a “Stranger” assassinating the King over there: Phil says, “I believe a three-week squabble over there in some way sparked off a war here that lasted six years and killed millions of people" (197). The King died in the Territories on the same day that Germany invaded Poland. Phil thinks the Stranger was a traveler like him and Sloat. He also says there are other worlds beyond the Territories.

Jack remembers them talking about a man named Jerry Bledsoe, and wonders what killed him. He flips and enters the Territories near an inn. He notices that the houses have no television screens in their windows.