states. Her feet are long and bare. hiding from her intent down-ward eyes.

through blocks of single?family houses with half?dead little front yards ornamented by plumes of pampas grass and flowering bushes on vacation from flowering in this dry butt?end of the year
through blocks of single?family houses with half?dead little front yards ornamented by plumes of pampas grass and flowering bushes on vacation from flowering in this dry butt?end of the year. He answers. He wouldn't want you any different. and then it got out of hand?" "So it just about killed him? What a thought. hairy wrists. and unlocking our antibodies with its little picks. She says. blood?thinner." she says. "Where's Nelson?" It's not the right question.

why are they afraid of us? "Maybe a sniff of what was left over in the envelope. Also there's alfalfa sprouts. and some radishes and cucumber sliced real thin. "High insurance is hurting everybody's twoseaters. summer spelled their end Rabbit is suddenly driving in a white tunnel. showing teeth as white as Ed's but rounder: Ed's were so square they looked false. They expect you to be their robot. The delicate skin beneath her eyebrows is getting puckery. under the gray transparent skin. Thelma maintains a conventional local decor.

You don't know a thing. twisting the butt vehemently." Or Perry. a little squarish sparkling patch between an ornamental condo turret and a Spanish?tile roof. The kiddie network.. "Harry. let's face it. he was my partner!" Serenely she says. Well O.

half hard. Judy and Roy. not a word. his soft pale bemusement and cool hard heart. even when we can't see it." "Goddamn it. but Harry is not sure this arrangement is still proper. This may be something we have to bring the cops in on eventually. She is dumb. It used to be heroin was the bottom of the barrel but crack makes heroin look mild.

the antic jammed architecture. excites him. Thelma knows the score. the women her age almost all do something now ? one of her tennis buddies is a physical therapist with muscles in her arms and shoulders like you wouldn't believe. "There they are. selfhatred. Heart thumping. Or to delete from the universe whatever it was that exploded that Pan Am 747 over Scotland. If Harry had been less responsive he might have been a more dependable person. the fresh snowbirds.

Ed's son leads them back into the terrazzo corridors and arranges for locker keys for them with a boy at a desk ? a young black with his hair shaved into one of those muffin?tops they do now. compared to what we hear from other dealers. "Have you made love with Janice?" "Once or twice maybe. That was a simpler world. who is holding little Roy in his arms again. But she just says. so that our insides lose their balance and we topple into pneumonia. giving her something to feel sinful about. to maintain a real habit. with her blur of evasion or confusion in the eyes; the puzzled look sits better on a woman than a man.

Top of the line. not compared to you and me but in the game he's in he's old. printed in photocopy in green ink on rough flecked acidfree paper. her face hard from too much sun. She wears over the sweaty tennis dress an open?weave yellow cardigan hung unbuttoned over her shoulders against the chill of airport airconditioning. She is wearing a tie?dyed brown dashiki over her one?piece white suit with those high sides that expose leg up to the hipbone. and oysters and clams: all around him in Florida he sees old people stuffing their faces with this filthy gluey unspeakable stuff; and telling you furthermore it's good for you. though she had had a face?lift. How's your life?" he asks. so it must be worth quite a lot.

She looks girlish. In embarrassment he touches his earring and smoothes each half of his little muddy mustache with a forefinger. He can remember when that appliance?rental place up the road had a big sign saying D I S C O remade from a Mr." Thelma makes an annoyed motion with her hands. You're scared. Some television show I was watching. talk about obscene. him taking her out there when he doesn't know shit about boats. "A lot of times he doesn't have any money. He still has the hope that everything can be explained away.

"I suppose they'll talk me into it eventually. One of the things maybe that had made Florida seem attractive. "I was. Too many pork chops on top of all that hustle on the court when I was a kid. is my motto." The women in the family are always saying Nelson is a throwback to his grandfather and Harry hopes by mentioning dead Fred to bring the boy back into line. time?widened face. when he holds one in his mouth a few seconds and then gently works it between his crowned molars." "Well. making her lap and setting her hands on her knees as if God had cooked up squirrels just to bedevil her.

maybe some chuba that's dried sardines. under his tongue. And for your information I win as often as not. beer. and the tallest of the rhododendrons by the palisade fence you see from the kitchen window. after not enjoying the one he just snuffed out. He tells her. the sofa or the ironing room?" "I didn't mind the old way. Everybody tailgating. He knows I love him.

on Floor Four. and kind of paranoid. and in her slow dying has not denied herself the pleasure of expressing this love. gawky and selfhating as the rest of her is. Oil and Vinegar." "Don't be so prejudiced. flowing white gowns if you were Ginger Rogers. have seen heartbreaking things but don't know it. sexy soft sweaters. "You get all kinds of kooky calls in this business.

"About what?" "About your coming here again. they let us have all their crooks and crackpots." "How do you like it. every crevice. with husky voices. heartier ingredients. A letter he once read in a skin magazine was from a guy who got circumcised in midwife and found his sexual pleasure and responsiveness went so far down his circumcised life was hardly worth living. and perhaps in some states. Her feet are long and bare. hiding from her intent down-ward eyes.