It: Derry: The Last Interlude Summary & Analysis

On June 4, 1985, Mike writes that Bill entered his hospital room and gave him his notebook, which Carole Danner found on one of the library tables and gave Bill when he asked for it. Mike notices that Bill’s stutter is disappearing again, but he looks as though he has aged about four years in four days. Bill says that Audra will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow. Physically, she is fine—there were only minor cuts and bruises. Mentally, however, she is still in a catatonic state.  Mike tells Bill that he will be in the hospital for another week and suggests that Bill take Audra to his place and spend time talking to her. Bill still regrets telling Audra where he was going, but he accepts Mike’s offer.

Bill says that Richie flew back to California in the morning. Mike asks if Bill will stay in touch. Bill thinks that he might, but he worries that the forgetting will occur again. So far, it is just little details that are disappearing from his memory, but he thinks the forgetting will spread. Mike thinks that this may be for the best.

Mike asks about Ben and Beverly. Bill smiles a little and says that Ben invited her back to Nebraska with him, and she has agreed to go, at least for a while. Beverly also told Bill that she will go back to Chicago the week after next to file a missing-persons report on Tom Rogan. Bill says, too, that he thinks that Beverly does not really remember what happened to Tom. Bill then says that he cannot remember what the doorway to Its place looked like. He gets, instead, an image of goats walking across a bridge, like in the story “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.”

Before leaving Mike’s room, Bill does what Mike considers an odd but rather lovely thing—Bill leans over and kisses his cheek. Ben and Beverly visit next to say “goodbye.” They have decided to drive back to Nebraska together. He notices something in their eyes when they look at each other and thinks that they are lovers, or soon will be. They hug him and Ben asks if Mike will write. Mike says that he will, but he notices that he, too, is forgetting things. The notebook will have to remind him of what happened in Derry. Then again, he supposes that the words on the page will also begin to fade, leaving the notebook as blank as it was when he bought it.

The forgetting suggests to Mike that they really did kill It. He realizes that there is no longer a need for a watchman to stand by and wait for the cycle to begin again. He feels both dull panic and a sense of relief, but he chooses to embrace the relief. Bill then calls to say that he and Audra have moved into Mike’s house, but there is no change in her.

Mike calls Bill in the afternoon of the following day. There is still no change in Audra. He also calls Richie in California. Mike tells Richie that they are forgetting things again, and asks him what Stanley’s last name was. Richie does not know, but Mike finds it in his address book. Mike reasons that the distance is becoming palpable between them again. In six weeks or six months, they will have forgotten each other. Now, Mike cannot remember the name of Bill’s wife or what has happened to her.

Richie tells Mike that, if he is ever in Los Angeles, they should get together for a meal. Mike agrees and feels hot tears in his eyes. He says that if Richie ever comes back to Derry, the same offer goes. They hang up. Mike then lies back and closes his eyes for a long time.

Some days later, Chief Andrew Rademacher is killed in his office in a bizarre accident. The tramp-chair from the attic comes crashing through the roof and falls directly upon him while he is working at his desk. Rademacher dies instantly. Meanwhile, Mike talks to Bill again about his wife. Audra is eating solid foods again. Otherwise, there is no change in her. Then, Mike asks if Eddie’s health problem was asthma or migraines. Bill reminds him that it was asthma. Then, Mike asks for Eddie’s last name and Bill says that it is “Kerkorian,” which is actually the fake last name that Richie used to call the hospital when Mike was admitted for his stab wound. Bill tells Mike how scary it is to forget, and Mike agrees.

Bill says he has an idea about how to get Audra back completely. Mike says he thinks that he knows what it is, but Bill will have to act quickly. The following day, June 9th, Mike wakes up from a terrible nightmare in which Mark Lamonica comes to him again with the hypodermic needle or Henry Bowers comes to him with his switchblade. He grabs his address book to call Ben. The number is fading from the page, but it is still legible. The call does not go through and a phone-company voice says that the line has been canceled. Mike tries to remember if Ben was fat when they were kids or if he had a club-foot. He lies awake until dawn.

Mike gets news that he can go home on June 11th. He calls Bill. Mike wants to warn Bill that his time is getting shorter all the time—Bill is the only member of the Losers’ Club whom Mike can remember. Bill says that he is ready to try his idea for how to help Audra, and Mike tells him to be careful. Mike asks Bill how he will know how things turn out. Bill says that he will “just know.” Mike hangs up thinking that, even if he forgets them all, he will remember them in his dreams.