Doctor Sleep

Chapter 5 describes various ways in which the True Knot escape detection with their nomadic lifestyle. They travel on well-used highways in RVs. They have to keep moving because they don’t age, and they avoid dogs because the animals dislike them. Andi Steiner is the only truly young member of The Knot, since she turned recently.

Crow Daddy tells Rose that they’re down to 41 members from a previous 200, now that Tommy the Truck is gone. Mary, Tommy’s partner, is talking about taking her own life.

Until now, The True Knot were never supposed to get colds, but some of them are showing symptoms. Crow Daddy says there’s less steam, and that Rose should open a canister to feed them. Rose is tempted because Tommy died of malnourishment. She doesn’t tell Crow Daddy that there are only three canisters left.

Andrea—now going by Snakebite Andi—visits Mr. Kozy, who runs the campground where they’re staying. She puts him to sleep and takes him to the couch. Mrs. Kozy enters, and Andi puts her to sleep as well. She says they can go to bed at eleven o’clock that night and won’t remember anything tomorrow.

The True Knot meet in the picnic area and chant their oath: “We are the true Knot […] What is tied may never be untied. […] We endure […] We are chosen and fortunate. […] We take what they make […] We will use it well” (160). Rose releases steam from a canister, harvested from a boy named Richard. They inhale it for five minutes, growing younger and livelier.

Six weeks later, the effect is wearing off, but they sense that there’s a “steamhead” (163) nearby. They close in on Bradley Trevor, who is playing in a baseball game. Bradley has the shining, which gives him the ability to anticipate wherever the ball will go. Suddenly, he feels feverish and doesn’t want to be on the field. He isn’t sure if he’s dreaming. While walking home, he sees a man in an RV and accepts a ride. The True Knot take him to an abandoned ethanol plant.

Rose tortures him with a knife because “Pain purified steam” (166). The more they hurt Bradley, the more potent the steam’s effects will be.

Lucy hears Abra screaming. Night terrors have plagued her from age five to seven. Sometimes Abra sees dead people riding a small train. She wakes in tears because she could see them hurting a boy. She tells Tony about the Baseball Boy and hopes that his dad can stop it before it happens.

Abra tells John about the hospice and Azzie the cat. John calls these transmissions that she receives “weird radio signals” (171), prompting Lucy to ask God to break the radio.

Rose tells Crow Daddy about a huge steam source on the east coast that could fill 10 canisters. She senses that whoever it is saw them kill the Baseball Boy.

Dan is now 10 years sober, and Casey wants him to date someone regularly. When Dan protests, Casey asks about his nickname: Doctor Sleep. Dan explains his ability to help people die in peace. Then Casey asks about AA’s Step Five, which is to admit the “exact nature of our wrongs” (179). Dan thinks of one wrong he has never mentioned: The night with Deenie and Tommy.

In his room, Dan’s chalkboard says, “They are killing the baseball boy!” (181). He thinks Abra knows Tony, who is still a kid. He erases the board and says hi from Dan and Tony.

During a coffee break, Dan sees that Billy has several flies on his face. He can’t sleep that night because he has seen the flies before. The more flies there are, the less hope there is that the person will survive much longer. Dan’s mother’s face had been covered in flies shortly before she died. They talk to Casey, who knows Dan has other talents. Dan wants Billy to see a doctor, even though he has no symptoms of anything troubling. Casey gives Billy a paid day off and orders him to visit a clinic.

Dr. Fellerton tells Billy that he has something in his aorta. It’s an aneurysm and Billy is lucky he came in because now they can intervene before it worsens. Dan is happy, but he acknowledges to himself that he wants to drink most when things are going well. He remembers the relief of drinking as a high school first-year student. It always made him wonder how much he resembles his father. Abra leaves him a message that says she had a wonderful day. He doesn’t hear from Abra for two more years.

The chapter concludes with the narrator saying that Bradley—the Baseball Boy—left a final gift for the True Knot—something that was now sleeping in the “True Knot’s bloodstream” (194).