Of course it did, Eddie realized. Susannah had probably seen a home security system or two in her time - she had, after all, lived among the Manhattan rich, even if she had not been very enthusiastically accepted by them - but there was a world of difference between the electronics gear available in her when, 1963, and his own, which was 1987. We've never talked much about the differences, either, he thought. I wonder what she'd think if I told her Ronald Reagan was President of the United States when Roland snatched me? Probably that I was crazy.
"It's a security system," he said. Then, although his nerves and instincts screamed out against it, he forced himself to reach out with his right hand and thumb the TALK/LISTEN switch. There was no crackle of electricity; no deadly blue fire went racing up his arm. No sign that the thing was even still connected. Maybe Blaine is dead. Maybe he's dead, after all. But he didn't really believe that. "Hello?" he said, and in his mind's eye saw tin