Stephen King's the Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance Revised and Updated (13 page)

Near the beginning of
Wolves of the Calla,
our
ka-tet
is approached by six representatives from the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis—TIAN JAFFORDS, ZALIA JAFFORDS, WAYNE OVERHOLSER, BEN SLIGHTMAN, BENNY SLIGHTMAN, and PERE CALLAHAN. The Calla
folken
are in dire need of help, and at least three of their representatives believe that our posse of gunslingers is their only hope of salvation.

Although the Calla has been settled for more than a thousand years, over the last six generations it has been plagued by giant, green-cloaked marauders riding out of THUNDERCLAP. These predators (called WOLVES because of the terrible snarling masks that they wear) sweep down on the BORDERLAND CALLAS each generation to steal one of every pair of prepubescent twins. Although none of the Calla
folken
understand exactly what is being done to their children, they do know that when the children are finally returned to them, their minds and bodies are ruined, or ROONT.

The people of the Callas realize that in most parts of the world, twins are rarities and singletons are common, and that it is only in the arc of the borderlands that this natural phenomenon is reversed. It has led some among them to conclude that their children are being taken to the dark land so that a chemical which causes twin-telepathy can be culled from their brains. When our story begins, twenty-three years have passed since the last invasion. According to the town’s one Messenger Robot, called ANDY, by the rise of the coming Demon Moon, the Wolves will be upon them once more.

The Calla
folken
are farmers and ranchers, not fighters. Most of the 140 men tend smallhold patches of rice near the river, and the majority of them are relatively poor. Only the wealthiest—such as the rancher VAUGHN EISENHART—have any guns at all, and everyone knows that those rusty shooting-irons are no match for the light-sticks, fire-hurling weapons, and sneetches wielded by the Greencloaks.

Although most of the Calla’s attempts to stand up to the Wolves have ended in death and disaster, seventy years before Roland and his friends entered the borderlands, one of the SISTERS OF ORIZA, accompanied by a small group of friends, managed to bring a Greencloak down with one of her sharpened flying plates. The only member of that posse to survive (now an ancient old man) remembers all too well what the twitching Greencloak looked like behind
its mask. According to GRAN-PERE JAFFORDS, the Wolf looked just like Andy.

By sending false battle plans to the Wolves via Andy and the traitorous Ben Slightman, Roland, EDDIE, SUSANNAH, JAKE, and the Sisters of Oriza defeat their enemies despite being vastly outnumbered. In the battle of the EAST ROAD, MARGARET EISENHART and Jake’s friend Benny Slightman are killed. However, their deaths are not in vain since the Calla’s children are saved.

As well as the Wolf battle, many important events take place in this small town located on the lip of END-WORLD. Roland and his friends meet a final (if temporary) member of their
tet,
FATHER DONALD FRANK CALLAHAN, whom CONSTANT READERS know from STEPHEN KING’s novel
’Salem’s Lot.
It is here that Susannah Dean’s haunting demon, MIA, begins to get the upper hand and finally absconds with the body they share. It is also in the Calla that our
ka-tet
begins to suspect just how closely their
khef
is tied to that of the writer Stephen King.

GENERAL REFERENCES:
V:13–31
(men in Gathering Hall),
V:123–24, V:209, V:211–34
(Calla fiesta),
V:238, V:402–6, V:479, V:490, V:562, V:572, V:581, V:585, V:601–17, V:643, V:648, V:649, V:650, V:654, V:659, V:689, V:693–97
(present),
VI:6, VI:9, VI:10, VI:14, VI:17, VI:24, VI:131, VI:350, VII:120, VII:173, VII:207, VII:233, VII:398, VII:412, VII:473, VII:540, W:9

CHILD-MINDERS:
Early on the morning that the WOLVES are due to arrive in Calla Bryn Sturgis, these characters travel with Roland’s
ka-tet
and the SISTERS OF ORIZA to the ARROYOS northeast of the Calla. Although they initially believe that Roland plans to hide the children in the arroyos, they find out that they are actually to be hidden in LADY ORIZA’s rice.

The child-minders are SAREY ADAMS, HUGH ANSELM, KRELLA ANSELM, FATHER DONALD FRANK CALLAHAN, VAUGHN EISENHART, JORGE ESTRADA, TIAN JAFFORDS, ANNABELLE JAVIER, BUCKY JAVIER, BEN SLIGHTMAN, and CANTAB and ARA of the MANNI. REUBEN CAVERRA was supposed to be among them, but he busted a gut the night before and could not take part. WAYNE OVERHOLSER takes his place. V:483–84
(indirect; Roland asks Callahan for names),
V:608, V:615, V:643, V:662–67, V:677, V:689
(
folken
),
V:693–97
(
folken
)

CHILDREN OF THE CALLA:
See also
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: ROONTS,
listed below.
V:132, V:139, V:143
(twins),
V:150, V:151, V:152, V:206, V:211, V:214, V:217, V:220, V:222, V:225, V:341, V:362, V:508, V:575, V:584, V:585–89
(singing),
V:602, V:607, V:609, V:629, V:636, V:637, V:643, V:646, V:650, V:654, V:658, V:662–67, V:671, V:677, V:689
(part of
folken
),
V:693–97, VI:6, VI:80, VI:115, VI:237, VI:243
(indirect),
VI:247, VI:378
(victims of the Wolves),
VII:75, VII:142, VII:152, VII:153, VII:173, VII:206, VII:213, VII:214
(indirect),
VII:339, VII:412

PUDGY BOY:
V:588

TWIN SINGERS:
V:227

FARMERS (LARGE FARMS):

OVERHOLSER, WAYNE DALE:
Wayne Dale Overholser, the Calla’s most successful farmer and one of its most important citizens, is the owner of SEVEN MILE FARM, located just west of Calla Bryn Sturgis. His major crop is wheat. Wayne is about sixty years old, has heavy cheeks scarred
with “I-want” lines, and a vast, sloping belly. Despite wearing a white Stetson like a good guy from a cowboy film, Overholser is initially dubious about the chances four gunslingers and a BILLY-BUMBLER have against more than sixty WOLVES. Obviously, he doesn’t know Roland.

Although his two grown children were both singletons, Overholser himself had a twin named WELLAND. Like so many others, Welland was taken by the Wolves and returned ROONT. Despite his initial cynicism, Overholser is eventually won over to Roland’s way of seeing and even acts as one of the CHILD-MINDERS during the battle of the EAST ROAD. According to CALVIN TOWER, in our world, Wayne D. Overholser is also the name of a cowboy novelist. V:20–31
(Town Gathering Hall; present),
V:44
(following
ka-tet
),
V:45
(following
ka-tet
),
V:47
(following
ka-tet
),
V:57
(Wayne D),
V:88
(friends),
V:92
(indirect),
V:106
(indirect),
V:109
(indirect),
V:111–13, V:116, V:117–18, V:122–37, V:142–60, V:162, V:165, V:166, V:201–10
(present—mentioned directly on 205, 206, 208–9),
V:211–34
(present for fiesta—mentioned directly on 212, 213–14, 216, 217, 222, 223, 224),
V:237, V:321
(not as shrewd as Eisenhart),
V:329, V:340, V:404, V:488, V:497, V:509, V:557, V:572, V:576, V:601–17
(present—mentioned directly on 604, 606),
V:651–52, V:654, V:656, V:661, V:662–67, V:677, V:681, V:689
(
folken
),
V:693–97
(
folken
),
VI:9, VI:92, VI:303
(the writer)

MOTHER (UNNAMED):
V:130
(folks),
V:147
(ma),
V:150
(ma)

OVERHOLSER, ALAN:
Alan was the father of Wayne and WELLAND OVERHOLSER. He died long before our story takes place. V:128, V:130
(folks),
V:147
(pa)

OVERHOLSER, MRS.:
Wayne’s wife. We never learn her full name. V:651

OVERHOLSER, WELLAND:
See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: ROONTS,
listed below

FARMERS (SMALLHOLD):

ANSELM, HUGH:
Hugh Anselm owns a smallhold just south of TIAN JAFFORDS’s place. Tian wants to buy it. Anselm is one of the CHILD-MINDERS during the final battle with the WOLVES. V:349, V:587, V:589, V:662–67
(not mentioned here, but we find out on 677 that he must have been present),
V:677

ANSELM, KRELLA:
Krella is Hugh Anselm’s wife. She also acts as a CHILD-MINDER during the final battle with the WOLVES. V:662–67
(mentioned on 666),
V:677, V:689
(
folken
),
V:693–97
(
folken
)

ANSELM TWINS:
The Anselm twins are about thirteen or fourteen years old. V:587–88

ARRA:
During GRAN-PERE JAFFORDS’s youth, Arra owned a smallhold patch just east of the Calla. It was near this smallhold that Gran-pere and the other members of the WOLF POSSE lay in ambush for their green-cloaked enemies. V:361

CAVERRA, REUBEN:
Reuben Caverra is a plump man with a round, cheerful face. Later in the story he is described as a “hulk of a man” and is said to be fearless. The year the WOLVES took his twin, RUTH, he made a mark on the big pine tree in his front yard. He continued to make a mark
each succeeding year. By his reckoning, the Calla had twenty-three years of peace between invasions from THUNDERCLAP. Reuben Caverra is one of the
folken
chosen to act as a CHILD-MINDER during the standoff against the Wolves. Unfortunately, Reuben busts a gut and is too ill to participate. WAYNE OVERHOLSER takes his place.
See also
CALLAHAN, FATHER DONALD FRANK
: CALLAHAN’S HIDDEN HIGHWAYS ASSOCIATES: MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS (ILLEGAL). V:15–31
(Town Gathering Hall; present),
V:483, V:651

CAVERRA, DIANE:
Diane Caverra is Reuben’s wife. CALLAHAN names her as another possible CHILD-MINDER. However, due to her husband’s illness, she does not participate either. V:483

CAVERRA, RUTH:
See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: ROONTS,
listed below

ESTRADA, JORGE:
Like many of the other smallhold farmers, Jorge Estrada has children young enough to be taken by the WOLVES. He acts as one of the CHILD-MINDERS during the EAST ROAD battle.
See also
CALLAHAN, FATHER DONALD FRANK
: CALLAHAN’S HIDDEN HIGHWAYS ASSOCIATES: MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS (ILLEGAL). V:16–31
(Town Gathering Hall; present),
V:211–34
(present; mentioned directly on 222),
V:488–92
(present),
V:656, V:662–67
(present),
V:677, V:689
(
folken
),
V:693–97
(
folken
)

ESTRADA, DEELIE:
She is the wife of Jorge Estrada. V:488–92
(present)

FARADAY, NEIL:
Squat, cynical Neil Faraday owns a smallhold rice patch far to the South’ards. He is a hard worker but an even harder drinker, a fact easily discerned from the dark circles under his eyes and the burst of purplish veins on his cheeks. When TIAN JAFFORDS calls a meeting to discuss fighting the WOLVES, Faraday (holding his filthy sombrero) counsels caution. Later, during the Calla meeting where Roland tells everyone to bring their children to the PAVILION on the eve of the Wolf attack, Faraday refuses. He will not allow his three children (or his wife) to take part in Roland’s plan. V:18–31
(Town Gathering Hall; present),
V:211–34
(present; mentioned directly on 222),
V:601–17
(present; mentioned directly on 611–12, 614)

GEORGE:
See
CALLA BRYN STURGIS CHARACTERS
: ROONTS,
listed below

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