Editing Hearts in Atlantis (section)

==="Blind Willie"===
This short story was originally published in the October 1994 issue of ''[[Antaeus (magazine)|Antaeus]]'', and in 1997 was published as part of King's limited edition collection ''[[Six Stories]]''. For its inclusion in ''Hearts in Atlantis'', the story was heavily revised.

Willie Shearman is a [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] veteran who lives in Connecticut but sits in a particular sidewalk location in downtown New York City each day. He pretends to be blind to receive money from people passing by, becoming blind every afternoon at the time of day that he was caught in a firefight and temporarily blinded. He believes that his blindness and begging is a form of [[penance]] for his involvement in the childhood beating of Carol (from ''Low Men in Yellow Coats'') and continuously writes apologies to her in notebooks that he carries around. Willie also keeps a scrapbook about her: her involvement in activist groups became increasingly militant under the guidance of a Svengali-like leader named Raymond Fiegler (a name with the initials R.F., suggesting that he is [[Randall Flagg]]). The group became responsible for a bombing at a recruiting office, giving Carol the name "Red Carol" (though she may have tried to stop the bomb). Carol was believed killed when their headquarters was raided and the building accidentally set afire.

At the end of the day, Willie's sight returns, signifying it is time to return home to his suburban lifestyle. The story ends just as he gains inspiration for how to deal with the policeman he's been bribing to keep from getting arrested.