bill was here, and bill would take care; bill would not let things get out of control. he was the tallest of them, and surely the most handsome. richie only had to look sideways at bev’s eyes, fixed on bill, and then farther, to ben’s eyes, fixed knowingly and unhappily on bev’s face, to know that. bill was also the strongest of them— and not just physically. there was a good deal more to it than that, but since richie did now know either the word charisma or the full meaning of the word magnetism, he only felt that bill’s strength ran deep and might manifest itself in many ways, some of them probably unexpected. and richie suspected if beverly fell for him, or “got a crush on him,” or whatever they called it, ben would not be jealous ( like he would, richie thought, if she got a crush on me ); he would accept it as nothing but natural. and there was something else: bill was good. it was stupid to think such a thing ( he did not, in fact, precisely think it; he felt it ), but there it was. goodness and strength seemed to radiate from bill. he was like a knight in an old movie, a movie that was corny but still had the power to make you cry and cheer and clap at the end. strong and good.
