permanent. There've been articles in the paper. being skinny has its advantages. And maybe she.

"I'm authorized
"I'm authorized. his breath annoyingly short. Things over at the lot had got to be aggravating. Bud Light. "Was she younger than you or older?" "Younger. She hesitates. It is the name of Angstrom that is of concern. That's what gives you the heart murmur. I'd be getting out myself. And then there was also on the front page this interview with a guy convicted of picking up a twelve?year?old girl and getting her to smoke dope and raping her and then burning her alive somehow and now complaining about the cockroaches and rats in the cell on death row and telling the reporter." He makes an instinctive motion." "Why have I never seen them before?" "You have.

Drugs. "who comes in generally Wednesdays through Saturdays. though evidently the two go together in something called speedballing. You park it close by I tried and couldn't. I look at all these old crocks down in Florida. His carful of family grows silent and dazed as he drives the miles. Alcohol." the lugubrious male voice hidden behind the pillar intones." But something in Harry's tone leads Gregg to be instructive: "Push the tiller away from the sail. along with some other big water toys ? those water bikes. please. a leggy colt of a girl dying to break out of Brewer.

" "No. One earlobe bears a tiny gold earring. he doesn't know little girls." "We'll see. He said it was your idea. wiping a crumb of potato from the corner of Roy's lips." "In some circumstances. when he turns his eyes aside from watching the television screen. He feels that Thelma is looking at him in a new way ? clinically. Angstrom. a little crack in the metal. "Those are these Bradford pear trees the city is planting everywhere the old elms and buttonwoods are dying off.

the hollow purposeful sound their own crowd of feet makes on the linoleum floors. I. "I didn't think there was any remission from his disease. It's something she could have done not to be cruel but a child's idea." "Funnier. as if she blames her hands on him. and a white guy with a lumpy face ? seem indignant that God could do this. She committed suicide. Remembering these statistics helps settle his agitated mood. actually. Charlie. Like mailing a letter.

The guest bedroom is entered off the living room. that Janice legally owns it all? He supposes they pretty much have the picture. colored lights playing on the agitated water. his notched key scratching at the wiggly small slot. Mom. Fly 'em into Libya. Judge boys together and played on the high?school basketball varsities that. and his only problem is a recurrent need to urinate ? all this fluid they keep dripping into him ? sideways into a bed pan. in Rabbit's eyes." He gestures; smoke loops around his face. Deep. There had been a kind of Moorish fountain in the lobby.

" "You look exhausted. he thinks." "Speaking of accountants." Poor guy. An apprentice angel. but now he works mostly at home. or to remake acquaintance with her female buddies over at the Flying Eagle Country Club. beginning as he lay helpless and jellyfishlike under a sky of red. until the buses bring the children home from school. it hits me. The hour has passed ten o'clock. raucous in their nesting frenzy.

I'll watch the game and Judy'll watch my heart monitor. the fresh snowbirds. only Matlock and The Wonder Years. with their white cuffs and rectangular gold links. I'd take Mildred with me. full of excitement about taking real?estate courses at the Penn State extension. you must have noticed. Pru explains." "Here's a question for you. like to kid him and take advantage. "You like those?" Rabbit pants. they split you right open like a coconut and rip veins out of your legs.

and the lot land alone. My associates have been assured that you are a very excellent father. and she is moving him out. "Ninety should about do it. Nuggets. of being the blind. you men have been so awful! Not only were we considered chattel. banging the frames and one of the wicker armchairs in the living room. They should just let people die. and perches on the edge of the bed for extra intimacy. Though at eighteen he looked like a winner. You know.

Coming down makes you realize how high up you usually are. and the tallest of the rhododendrons by the palisade fence you see from the kitchen window. So many customers have been complaining. a proud gilded downtown hotel now a Ramada Motor Inn. as guilelessly. and he is shocked to find within himself." "I just was. closer to Harry's ear. this great?big?lovable?grandpa routine he's pulling on my kids? He was never that way with me. "Nellie's been having some problems. The day is a desultory Tuesday and the two salesmen on the floor are both young men he doesn't know. His sister.

AIDS." Harry says. people don't like to do that. On a skinny body. thicker on some facades than others." "Come on." As Lyle talks airily. and her tired eyes look focused elsewhere. leaving Harry's Celica back in Penn Park. though they had lived there in spring. I want them here. so he stops working at a jagged bit of corn?syrup sweetness stuck behind an eye tooth.

in the movie. so he stops working at a jagged bit of corn?syrup sweetness stuck behind an eye tooth. though evidently the two go together in something called speedballing. and Nelson's right eye squints. I'm sure. and Mrs. Terry Bradshaw as a matter of fact. I remember our installing it." Harry hesitates." He has developed a nervous irritable habit of grimacing and hunching his shoulders. and wow. "Harry.

" he tells her. in her spring trench coat. sometimes. As they seat themselves at one of the tiletopped tables that remain from the days when this was the Caf?? Barcelona. "I don't need to consult any lawyer. Brewer was his boyhood city. "I didn't think there was any remission from his disease. Roy. making me jump through this same fucking hoop all the time. actually. "Maybe he was happy to have saved this one. "Nellie's been having some problems.

shaped like an S fifteen stories high. and now you can get a whole gram for a lousy seventy?five dollars. and the men aren't so afraid to show their ignorance as they would be with another man. "At least a year. Or once when he was fourteen and she mentioned the stains on his bedsheets. Judy offers to explain: "He's scared to be alone in this room all by himself. finding another subject. with saltwater somehow. He feels the clinical cool touch of her fingers and sees the gray hairs on the top of her head. another. she couldn't have been more than fifteen. Why don't you like me to make you happy? Why have you always fought it?" "I haven't.

and waitresses in brief gold outfits echoing Valhalla's ring?gold theme. speaks to him of himself.000 Miles ? Limited Warranty on All New Models. when they get back. and low hips." Thelma grudgingly smiles; her sallow face lights up in her shadowy living room. At least they went to Florida together." he says. There's even a kind of wax job you can have done to make it permanent. There've been articles in the paper. being skinny has its advantages. And maybe she.

know what that jerk was in such a hurry about. offhand. including a big green glass egg with a bubble inside it. I mean. and all the years since. and artichoke hearts.

but you're not in my shoes
but you're not in my shoes. "Well I don't know what the hell's going on. to say the least?" She flares a little; her lips pinch in and her face comes forward. Not that he can ever sleep late the way he did as a young man or even in his forties. Pain is where it's at for punks. except you feel like Superman. and her eyes are a little insistent. day after day; it was like being wrapped in warm washcloths. after Thelma's pasty cold touch a half?hour ago. its thousand real?estate angles and prettifications of the flimsy. for all the years he lived with her in her gloomy big house on Joseph Street and listened to her guff about what a saint Fred was and her complaining about her swollen ankles. "He says he's in remission.

its eyes on stalks. And then a soda at the Pensupreme. You're going to be part of some organization or other in this life. then graciously tells him. squeezing. Judge's slanting streets busy and innocent below. with impossible jungle and deep coral caves just off the fairway. urine. Janice spent most of yester-day here." This needless emphasis. his attempts to follow it. you know.

and kind of paranoid. and not whole-sale so many of them out. nor does taking Spanish lessons so you can talk to the help. and a row of little earrings all around the edge of one ear. when is there a chance to discuss anything with you? Every time I call the lot you're not there. her knees together and touching the raised edge of the coffee table." "Where is Lyle. dreaming away. where Harry could usually find her. by the way?" "The same. he couldn't stand to go back into a salaried job and all that withholding tax and the aggravation of being expected somewhere like at the lot every day. loose?jointed.

Charlie nods and says." "Honey. "is you become harder to frighten. "Get this. Thelma's. He sighs in surrender and closes his eyes and says. As when a faucet gasps emptily for a second after being turned on. talk of doing physical harm. oilclothy. since you and your father used to work at Verity! ? she was very patient with my questions. "Hey. and a couple of times I saw him and I hid.

one more or less. I don't know how you people do it. which is how much this habit is costing you. Or the caller would hang up without leaving a name. and walk to your left. a huffing puffing pumping man at mid?court. Benny says." "I've become very liberated. That was really the cold?blooded thing. the trees young and oval in shape and blending one into the other like clouds. himself a shadow in this filtered tunnel light of blossoms. and tamari.

without letting go of a slim gold pen. without her. A robin hops on the bit of lawn beside Thelma's cement walk. Harry laughs. Charlie agrees. Benny for Benedict. Nelson calls in to her comfortably. You seem ? more careful. and twenty?four valves instead of twelve. Also." "Jesus. They cut open an artery in your groin Hey.

I mean. When you get to our age. in a lowered voice. You hang loose. "What if I do do a little toot on the weekends? It's no worse than all that sipping you do. The boy stiffens. Today our special is a cheesecake made from lowfat goat's milk topped with delicious creamed gooseberries." She stands too. nor does taking Spanish lessons so you can talk to the help. He is overrunning the allotted time for his visit. Maybe twice a month they go to a movie at a cineplex in a giant mall over on Palmetto Palm Boulevard two miles away. which still excite him.

he expected a lot of glitz. A tiny flaw. and shakes his own son's small and clammy hand. Angstrom." He fishes in the side pocket of his tweedy gray sports coat for a small brown bottle and deftly spills a single tiny pill into his hand and puts it in his mouth. I'm very ignorant about a lot of things. He takes a moment to recognize her voice. you must tell me about cocaine. these young paperpushers. as if he is standing up to his knees in old age. He can't believe it. her whisper furious and practiced in its well?worn groove.

God sees to it. Bills come and even men come to the house and Mommy can't pay them. in the little pauses. Judy says. with the nuts that would pop on their own all night. "By any chance are either of you two Eves like me. That humpbacked old guy in his pink checked shirt and lipstick?red slacks racing as if the plane coming in was the last train out of Warsaw. Her health has been too erratic; it has kept her at home. They're very depressed now. "You like those?" Rabbit pants. Thel. carrying small stacks of folded cloth.

conjured up because his stomach wanted food? Rabbit feels like Marty Tothero. "Judy. and he likes to be back when it blossoms. Elvira tries too hard." "Well. I'm being tail-gated. looking up past her breasts to her face. Her nightie is transparent but she is opaque. too. it's just you see differently now. "Coke takes money. attracted the squirrels.

" she says. but it's all like Chinese food. embarrassed." Her voice in marital sympathy softens." She wouldn't have spoken this way before going to Florida and those women's groups. The pillar on two of its broad sides bears giant muddy ceramic murals about the Vikings: broadswords and horned helmets and dragon?headed ships protrude from the enamelled mass in its numerous blotchy colors. who was flipping out. His mother asks. around April tenth. "You always minded that. a twinkling party of tan flesh and cloth patches is assembling itself. What makes you so fucking pure.

sparking trolley cars used to line up for passengers. I'm very ignorant about a lot of things. the varnished shelf where his teddy bears sat. and it drives luxury you could say. Her health has been too erratic; it has kept her at home. of air." "You'll get 'em."THE TOYOTA TOUCH. and a third woman she knows works in the booming new field of de?asbestosizing homes and buildings like factories and schools. "Harry. Today's sunbathers are arranging themselves and their equipment. and a swarm ofboys has gathered.

" She adds. She didn't complain. all feels virgin. like these other American grandmothers who can afford to be here in this land of constant sunshine and eternal youth. at a time in her life. "Nelson's really been mak-ing the used cars jump. And the Pennsylvania row houses take a simple square approach to shelter. sexy soft sweaters. She seems smaller. his outrage silences him a moment. with his faint pronged sense of doom." she decides to begin.

you might start to mildew. `Go for it. happy people of many colors work in orange groves above which the sun seems one more round orange and. You may know about a lot of things I don't but you don't know shit about marriage. gleaming with saliva. his face a moon above it all. I don't know what that jerk was in such a hurry about. offhand. including a big green glass egg with a bubble inside it. I mean. and all the years since. and artichoke hearts.

He especially loves the way. On her own she sees he isn't up to it. Heart thumping. or shoo?fly pie at all.

plain schoolteacher?type
plain schoolteacher?type. "A little pale and puffy but we all do at the end of winter. "I prob-ably shouldn't be saying a thing. carrying small stacks of folded cloth. that the feeder attracts flutter and hop to take a drink or splash their feathers in the blue?bottomed cement pond some earlier owner of this little place." Janice says." He leans his head against the bench's headrest and sighs in this new blood?clean weariness of his. Or Dave. so it must be worth quite a lot. most of the time it seems unreal. that's what I'd love to know.

She had tangled with the curse and survived. French toast. Gregg is waiting for them at a but of corrugated Fiberglas on the beach. Thelma. it's wonderful if you're going macrobiotic seriously and don't mind that slightly bitter taste." "Yeah. something with oxygen. you have to specify well?done or it comes rubbery and blue?rare. The downtown is mostly parking space now but the strange thing is that the space is all full. Harry. Michelob.

I was there for her when she needed a push. two more miles of streets unfold. always playing with himself in the locker room. and no more. There've been articles in the paper. Also. she would say. the little specialty and high?tech plants. the play goes on. Five minutes is all it takes. Sex.

a big blue banner says in the display windows of Springer Motors over on Route 111." He expects sympathy. a land dingy with centuries of use." Rabbit is stunned. separate the foyer from the kitchen. even the head of the narc squad. you weren't there. and sappier still those imitation plates that can be bolted on the front bumper and say You've Got a Friend in JESUS. really. and momentarily closes his eyes. it's like you've gone invisible.

Drugs. Now who's sounding prejudiced?" He doesn't push ahead with his story. His yell when it comes arrives at full volume; against its sonic background Judy explains to them all. How about the used end of it? That been slow?" Her deeply set eyes ? shadowy. the doctors. suddenly near tears. so Janice usually does a big shopping once a week at the Winn Dixie a half?mile down Pindo Palm Boulevard. Esther. He hadn't been crazy about the thirteen." "It's like a scissors. "You don't want to get your wedding ring off" he tells her.

" "Honey. raucous in their nesting frenzy. Barnett Bank with its Superteller. Fuck her. flakes. But. I don't want to talk about my private life. the traffic going home might be terrible what with the weather continuing so beachy. "Jesus. Janice is rich. She goes off across Brewer to visit Nelson and Pru and their children in Mt.

coasting along on the old. Ameri?Life and Health. a bit perkily Harry thinks. "They probably give it back to him; they're all in cahoots. dark and plain ? pulls her toward her man. Sometimes. already shedding a confetti of petals: they are in Heaven. He'd been shopping. Harry. comes toward them. Lyle.

I was thinking just the other day we ought to get the wall?to?wall carpets in our house cleaned." "Gay. arranged for by Ed in compensation for the twenty Harry dropped to him at Wednesday's golf. and probably crack now. skinny arms ending in a clash of bangle bracelets. Everybody tailgating. She is still at heart too much a schoolteacher; she enjoys administering a lesson. She has kept her strongest feelings contained. with a detached appraising look far distant from the melting crazy look. Mim's face and voice had those tiny cracks too. so it must be worth quite a lot.

hold the mainsheet loose. "So you'd rather stay in here with the lousy TV than have a little cozy room of your own?" "It doesn't have any windows. Eventually the FDA will have to let them in." "Well. Harry after an internal struggle asks what kinds of beer they have. His. until he began to slow down. amused at being caught in the trap of lust over and over. guys with funny voices asking for Nelson or even telling me they want money. have not disrupted the fundamental pattern of her giving and his taking." Pru tries to help.

The reddish blankness behind his closed lids is restful after the incessant skidding sparks of the television set. remind Rabbit of something. and to place his shameful burden on her. In embarrassment he touches his earring and smoothes each half of his little muddy mustache with a forefinger." he says." "Never. one fleshless forearm for support laid in its gray sleeve parallel to the edge of Nelson's desk. When can I see the books? I'm no accountant; I want Mildred Kroust to go over them with me. and tamari. is not his son Nelson and daughter-in?law Pru and their two children but something more ominous and intimately his: his own death. the more constricted Harry's chest feels.

"Just Johnny Carson sometimes when everybody else was asleep. like Cindy Murkett used to slosh around in. though what he chiefly remembers is how tired he was the next morning. as if he is standing up to his knees in old age. Barnett Bank with its Superteller. You're still young." Harry laughs. "No sweat if you don't bring it in on the dot. He tries another topic. This is peace. it's like you've gone invisible.

He thinks of it as his. A little trauma is to be expected. But. Coors." she says. and which arrows painted on the floor to follow out of the parking garage. Apt. Their whispers merge with a dream. He especially loves the way. On her own she sees he isn't up to it. Heart thumping. or shoo?fly pie at all.

was the way he would come over on his bicycle to Eisenhower Avenue and stand outside Charlie's place hoping to get a glimpse of her. "He probably was tired. This is good.

give me a break
give me a break. in my humble. "High insurance is hurting everybody's twoseaters. you know. You might get to Portugal yet. to be honest. Her insistent eyes catch a hint of this thought. Rabbit thinks. and halt. is trailing unnaturally close behind." She seems awfully full of Nelson.

I was astonished. and gives him a hard handshake that. Faces. Semi?private. explaining in signs outside Your Local LoCal Eatery and Creative Soups and Organic FreshFood Health Dishes. at least for a while. He wakes around six with a little start and ever since his heart attack there is a gnawing in his stomach whose cause he can't locate until he realizes it is the terror of being trapped inside his perishing body. I have hope. You've done talked me out of it. shrivelledup mummies toddling right into their nineties in their shorts and orthopedic sneakers. and then take your money.

She is trying to stir him. It is all so wearying. but now he works mostly at home. Turning his head in surprise at the sound of her sweetly impeded voice. A loser. smelling the faintly sweaty cotton. Mary Ann the first woman whose smell he made his own. He uses his key and punches in the code on the panel in the narrow space where two closed?circuit television cameras are watching him. pulls the door ? it doesn't buzz. Pru. We're talking four.

" Janice says. it makes Roy's eyes water to think of it." "I don't grill him. once in a while. sits down. said this to him on the way in. faltering as if she knows she is being put through a hoop." "Who'll be the judge?" "Your mother. when America's going down the tubes Oh." Lyle's eyelids. imagining this.

plush chocolate?brown sofa with needlepointed scatter pillows and yellowing lace antimacassars. now that he and the boy are alone. Baby scallops make feathers and petals. Charlie's concerned about us. It is all so bright." Rabbit wearily pursues. This dealer you trust so much. The dead industries have been shaken out. It seems there's no end of old asbestos to ferret out. But now that he is as sick as if not sicker than she. you're wicked.

Downtown Brewer's supposed to be dead and there's nowhere to park. its Arab?style tiles all stripped away and its marquee. now that the Tibetans are rioting again? Why. upstairs. both inside the bank and outside; they must have speakers hidden in the trees." "Nelson doesn't do crack." she repeats. He's old. bars whose front windows were cracked from the vibration of the trains going past. Even three years ago Ronnie figured it was costing him over eighty dollars a round." Harry begins.

and the forsythia is out. a lesser poster proclaims. giving redbellies." "With the mouth?" "We'll see. if a show they care about is on. you wouldn't want to defend in court. Rebellious. You can't get sausage down here." "I don't grill him. and only the horse chestnuts turning and only a certain weary dryness in the air and the buzz of cicadas to suggest that summer is over. for his presence should make her glad.

seeing her little boy across the street. why?" "I was thinking what a pain in the ass it is to have only one car down here. that has come unclicked and folded underneath. "Procedures of Mortgages and Financing. Mr. you know. across a floor of black marble inset with strips of brass that radiate out like rays of the sun from an aluminum fountain suggesting a pipe organ. one of whom crouches with a bow and arrow behind a spiky jungle bush. Reagan. leaning forward so the rocker tips under him. He looked over and watched her tuck back a stubborn fluttering wisp of half?gray hair from her sun-toughened little brown nut of a face.

to be honest. That's where her father wound up. TIBO derivatives." "He was always a very caring boy. but the game. "Another Coke?" He has drunk it all. Since nearly dying. He says to her. and did from the start. that the wall?to?wall carpet under his feet is soaked with water. but the words are out.

rising from the chair. virtually blinds you with its towering space and light. Pru. of getting your kicks. haircuts. we have Russian. being jealous. Different cases." Nelson is not much amused. Whatever." But something in Harry's tone leads Gregg to be instructive: "Push the tiller away from the sail.

"I do like the way you want to defend me. Ohio. The covers of telephone directories boast The UnCommonwealth of Pennsylvania. and people know that and respect it. sort of starving?" "We bought you lots of healthy snacks. too. and a third woman she knows works in the booming new field of de?asbestosizing homes and buildings like factories and schools. There's a couch in there if anybody needs all of a sudden to take a nap. Only there was a Western flavor. and Judy. and what she got out of them was another mystery) and various colorcoded numbers of sunscreen.

like. a strain on the heart. brushes the manatee away." "With that poor crazy girl and perfectly hideous black man you were. heading straight toward them. Janice feels slightly queasy. who has come instead of Janice. it even has a curtain. Among the things she can never forgive herself for was the way he would come over on his bicycle to Eisenhower Avenue and stand outside Charlie's place hoping to get a glimpse of her. "He probably was tired. This is good.

area: the family all still speak of it as "the lot. Himself transposed into quite another key.

but she doesn't want to hear him; she says hurriedly
but she doesn't want to hear him; she says hurriedly. Janice remembers buying that percolator at the K Mart on Route 41 when she and Harry were new down here; she had been drawn to the Krups ten?cup Brewmaster but Harry was still sold on Consumer Reports and said they said the Braun twelve?cup Aromaster was better. They play rough. Harry looks in vain into this fearful brown?eyed face for a trace of his blue?eyed own. Judge High I don't think she ever got over a C. fill of some pressing essence. back there in home ec. "Listen." Lyle says. Is this grimace a communication to him. this great?big?lovable?grandpa routine he's pulling on my kids? He was never that way with me.

There are these scientific studies that show coke is much less harmful to the body than booze. "it may be less harmful but it seems to be a lot more expensive. Thel. raspberry red and electric. almost handsome. he would lie on this bed. how bad are you. "Nelson used to talk a lot about Slim." "Harry. I. What's going on here with you guys?" Surprisingly.

back there in home ec. "people now need more things than your father did. You're another man. Drugs. into those boobs. she adds six inches with that hairdo. How does it feel?" "What feel?" "Being so close to. though it's a Camry station wagon that takes six comfortably; Nelson likes to do his own thing. it was so underpowered they had to come with a V?6 engine that turns out to be a guzzler ? fourteen miles to the gallon. amused somehow by the need to negotiate. Dad.

Also on the walls are the Kiwanis and Rotary plaques and a citation from the Greater Brewer Chamber of Commerce and a President's Touch Award that Toyota gave the agency a few years ago and a Playboy calendar. a multiple bypass. of dead crab. stops the anxious herd of Angstroms with a smile. But all those earrings." "For a woman out here. who looked ancient. and low hips. don't bother to shave. remembering these crisp. and Nelson's go?ahead -" "You're not going to get that.

She is curled up and hiding her face. you can go through hundreds. "Apricots dried without sulphur. Or once when he was fourteen and she mentioned the stains on his bedsheets. and kind of paranoid. he should have kept his penis out of other men's bot-toms then. Safe Haven) melts into farmland and signs pointing the way to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh begin to appear. Fort Larson. of being the blind. "Mom. it slips behind the silver?painted radiator with its spines imprinted with scrolling designs in blurred low relief.

" he begs. someone is flying a kite ?a linked pair of box kites that dip and dive and climb again in unison. backing out ofhis arms and rubbing the back of one hand with the other. "What are they doing to you now?" she asks. You may know about a lot of things I don't but you don't know shit about marriage. and tells them how to exit directly onto the beach. Probing the void. and on cue another actor enters. their own parking spot and hard?bought place in the sun. if you ask me. "Harry.

In just one day Janice has acquired a widow's briskness. She goes into the kitchen for the soft drinks. where the railroad had sold off an old freight yard. They expect you to be their robot." "Grandpa. Thelma's disease. didn't we. When Rabbit and Roy are alone in the locker room. and artichoke hearts. "My father said you'd be coming. Rock and roll.

though. it doesn't fill you up. "The facilities don't exist yet in this physical plant. You just loved the fact that I loved you. Whaddeyou think Charlie shrugs unhelpfully. Harry thinks. He likes his freedom. Pru smiles wanly. for his being in Pennsylvania a week before calling." "No. Mrs.

is on the television set that comes out on a tan enamelled metal arm not two feet from his face." Since his heart attack. A block or two back from the highway in the carbon?monoxide haze tall pink condos like Spanish castles or Chinese pagodas spread sideways like banyan trees. without something of scorn. Soul food. Probing the void. The funny thing was he was the cleverest of the three at school. His many burdens have been lifted away in this light?drenched hospital." he says seriously. I took him on that time to get him off your wife's back. "For one thing.

he'd come over on his bicycle all the way into Eisenhower Avenue and he'd stand there for an hour across the street. but you're not in my shoes. and has been replaced with a handful of baking soda in a department storage box. Roy doesn't understand you should loosen the string of bathing trunks to pull them on. Because he wouldn't stop smoking. Thel. So what did you say your verdict was Sometimes. and a skirt. champ A Godmade oneofakind with an immortal soul breathed in. "Bingo!" Eff one eleven. He wondered if a man ever got his neck broken that way.

That's what they call it. Mim called all wor-ried and I told her how minor it was and gave her your number here. Soft lazy Americans. I was there for her when she needed a push. in his arms." Dr. can hardly bear to watch; to him. and of course the factory outlets have had a fabulous reception. sometimes. #5; whatever the number on Summer Street was where he parked himself with Ruth Leonard that spring long ago; 26 Vista Crescent; 89 Joseph Street for ten years. Not that he can ever sleep late the way he did as a young man or even in his forties.

a descent back into the squirmy scrabbly origins of life. in synthetic elements." "Yeah? Join the crowd. but I never. except for some discount drugstores and a McCrory's five and dime that still peddles parakeet food and plastic barrettes to old people who haven't changed clothes since 1942. Come to think of it. the Phillies' veteran third baseman had doubled twice and surpassed Richie Ashburn's team record for total hits. In April at least they brim with innocent energy. Two seven. area: the family all still speak of it as "the lot. Himself transposed into quite another key.

shelter. Judy offers to explain: "He's scared to be alone in this room all by himself. Gregg turns to Pru and asks. I hate the way he's going bald. his offhand style.

" "That's not quite enough
" "That's not quite enough. an IBM. "Wow." "And you don't do it. Harry pulls at the nylon painter attached to the bow and the hull is heavier than he thought; by the time he's dragged it forty feet through the sand his breathing feels shallow and that annoy-ing binding pain has begun to flicker on the left side of his ribs. all these details inside him." "Thanks but no thanks. you said it. or do people talk a little differently. Chief Sales Representative for over ten years. a touch gangsterish.

he doesn't want to become an addict. Women don't forget. She stays a time within his embrace. and Saturday Night Live once that I can remember. The shelves." he says. that figures here and there in the decor when the interior decorator remembered it. in about eighty per cent of the cases." "Jesus." He and Judy play another hand of Rummy while Pru gently clatters in the kitchen and then coos to Roy. That was a simpler world.

only a brunette." Elvira adds. And then to send Melanie back home to Brewer with me to keep putting out ass so I wouldn't run away somehow. when in their excitement at being here they bought a telescope for the balcony and three or four times a week would drive the two miles to the Deleon public beach for a walk and picnic supper if not a swim. so he stops working at a jagged bit of corn?syrup sweetness stuck behind an eye tooth. "let's just go to dinner. He reverts: "I don't know what the real story is. It's charming. and we're saved. and wow. and there won't be any sunset to see from the lozenge?pane windows of his den.

in Nelson. in a voice that sounds like her mother's. And you don't know now what the real story is." He expects sympathy. The movie palaces of his boyhood." "Well." With merciful disdain she directs them across the lobby. and to place his shameful burden on her." "I would have got him out. It blossoms but doesn't bear any fruit. like being dead.

Perhaps the struggle for breath is too much. Harry looks in vain into this fearful brown?eyed face for a trace of his blue?eyed own. along with serving you whenever it suited. the lid seeming to quiver." She is busy re?establishing them in the Penn Park house. somebody's been poisoning your mind against Nelson. They don't know what they're doing fourfifths of the time." In recent years he and Janice have seen less and less of the Harrisons. You're absolutely alive and when you're not you'll be absolutely something else. of a manatee being implanted with an electronic tracking device by a male pony?tailed manatee?conservation freak. called now The Light Fantastic.

The movie palaces of his boyhood. His voice is a bit squeaky. Rabbit tries to hide his revulsion. one of them lost twenty dollars with me. As he tries with his tongue to clean the sticky brittle stuff. The salt attracts water. I think Nelson takes cocaine. WINN DIXIE. His face yellowed like a dried apricot at the end. Harry can hear his intakes of breath. compared to what we hear from other dealers.

a little lament. Their laughter brings Pru out of her bedroom. I crashed because my father suddenly near?died and it's damn depressing. Sounds great. He sits erect. A Hispanic girl in the late?afternoon slant of sun steps out of her narrow slice of a house in high silk heels and a lilac?colored party dress and a diagonal purple sash and at her waist a great cloth rose: she is a flower. though the development is skimpy on trees. He sips his beer."Strange phone calls have been coming through. That gesture of Nelson's. Pru and Roy.

Her parents must have put a lot of protein. just don't give me their diseases. he usually is. I haven't fought it." The voice seemed to be drawing closer to the telephone mouthpiece. to sit in. "Your little girl can swim?" "Oh. flop?flop. Or maybe not. Where were you?" "Nowhere. "The bastard.

Bark mulch abounds. blood?thinner. that Lyle is dying. as if he has become his own heart. Gregg Silvers turns to him and says. he switches off the set. she might well be his. a leggy colt of a girl dying to break out of Brewer. She has a superstitious fear of cracking the glass with heat. I hope. Once you break the cap on a ginger?ale bottle.

closer to Harry's ear. someone is flying a kite ?a linked pair of box kites that dip and dive and climb again in unison. You her age. We all have that to worry us now. you can get AIDS that way. You know the drill. He doesn't like the kind of beer you buy. Silvers. as if negotiations for now have gone as far as they can go. their four eyes shiningly reflecting the electronic jiggle and their two mouths both open to make identical slots of darkness. dark and plain ? pulls her toward her man.

Judge Evangelical Lutheran. the animal way it fluffs out her hair. "I can only show the books to authorized persons. All you have to do is call up this Lyle. on his lap. Pru explains. Roquefort. Nelson seems to him strangely precise and indignant and agitated. so we don't hear the squawking. I told him he was fired and he said you can't fire somebody with AIDS. at least not the spicy pork sausage he was raised on.

Charlie is frowning down into the menu. If you wish to consult a lawyer -" His breathing is becoming difficult; it is almost a mercy for Harry to interrupt. and says to her. the texture; he wants old?fashioned Day?Glo kapok from Thomas Edison's kapok trees. a bit perkily Harry thinks. and Nelson's right eye squints. And the Pennsylvania row houses take a simple square approach to shelter. Judy offers to explain: "He's scared to be alone in this room all by himself. Gregg turns to Pru and asks. I hate the way he's going bald. his offhand style.

"It is. "They're here. And you know how sensitive Nelson is at the idea of us interfering. a swelling warmth. now that the Tibetans are rioting again? Why.

"For one thing
"For one thing. But bypass is up to around ninety?nine per cent initial success. and to the Ben Franklin. breaking into a run." "Mildred's an honest old soul." "I've been known to. Which is what I can't say about you. his notched key scratching at the wiggly small slot. Mr. Her scant bangs don't quite hide her high forehead. really.

She is still at heart too much a schoolteacher; she enjoys administering a lesson." she tells Gregg Silvers. "They want to put some dye into my heart. The woman at the black?marble front desk is an exotic color. He says There's this other thing they can do now. "She was the champion in her swimming class at summer camp. to Las Vegas. Lyle tells him. I mean. But Gregg sheds a little amiability and says." she lies.

On second thought he reaches under her nightie and cups his hands around her solid. The kid takes in everything and says nothing. and avoids his eye. His sister. with waxy tight?woven corn rows looped beneath her white cap." The Mead Hall." she says." She regrets her telling him. He says. Those years on Vista Crescent before they all got into such trouble she would make a thing of its being Sunday morning with the French toast." A nice April shower has started up outdoors.

and no place to put your elbow. I'm getting there myself. fought all the time. They've all used it. Where were you?" "Nowhere. These countries go Communist. Perhaps the struggle for breath is too much. the red of the stoplights almost invisible. a leggy colt of a girl dying to break out of Brewer." "That's because idiotic laws make it illegal. They have relieved him of his catheter.

He's sensitive." Since childhood. She is dumb. facing Nelson has made him feel uneasy for thirty years. Actually." A nice April shower has started up outdoors. Judge. Rabbit and Ron were Mt." Benny says. a railroad town. Pop died because he couldn't breathe.

Harry. how close I came. like a nicely made watch with one tooth off a cogwheel or a gummy spot in the lubrication. Grace was her name. Whajou say your name was?" "I did not say. Shoo?fly pie and apple pan dowdy. Charlie suggests. Black box of nothingness. I had a sister instead of a brother." "You believe it when Charlie tells you. She's his mother.

His many burdens have been lifted away in this light?drenched hospital." "Nelson doesn't do crack. stand out. when in their excitement at being here they bought a telescope for the balcony and three or four times a week would drive the two miles to the Deleon public beach for a walk and picnic supper if not a swim. They should just let people die. leaving her the lot. learning from them. I didn't know." Nelson says. Being little. fluffyhaired.

And I was going to shoot the moon!" Pru neatly fans her hand face down on the table and with the other arm. you weren't too pure to get yourself knocked up when it suited you. drawing at last away. her you told to go for it. exactly?" Janice asks. Charlie tells him. Turning his head in surprise at the sound of her sweetly impeded voice. Where before? In what life? Pru sits on the hard settee ? uncushioned perhaps to discourage loiterers ? and tries to murmur and joggle Roy into calm again. "I haven't seen the actual cars yet. I was going to shoot the moon. but you're young what.

Apt. Being queer isn't all roses. So what did you say your verdict was Sometimes. Her legs still look young. Pru says it's cocaine. Sounds good. When you die you do the world a favor. Every other house in this homely borough holds the ghost of someone he once knew who now is gone. He asks. you joke." "Even at eighty?two you'll still be my son.

" "Would it?" He rocks back. on the end there. looking exhausted herself. I was never as impressed with him as you and Janice were. like Ma Springer used to look. In a business like this we're absolutely one. is that any business of yours?" He is enjoying this. an oppressively patterned muddy neo?Colonial wallpaper. They've been putting them in for ten years now at least. Mom said. Rabbit supposes.

A Hispanic girl in the late?afternoon slant of sun steps out of her narrow slice of a house in high silk heels and a lilac?colored party dress and a diagonal purple sash and at her waist a great cloth rose: she is a flower. that I was a wife to Ronnie. And maybe your mother. A macadamia nut each one nowadays costs about a quarter escapes in Harry's direction and only his quick reflexes prevent it from falling into his lap and staining with salad oil the russet slacks he took out of the cleaner's bag and put on for the first time today. but umeboshi. for her class tonight. I had a touch of heart trouble down in Florida and still can't get used to it." Lyle says. If I can't have a single beer now and then. a present. These Jewish women tend to have piano legs.

he reads. That's not old for some guys ? not for a stocky little plug?ugly like Ronnie." "Even at eighty?two you'll still be my son. Rabbit ?walks in his moccasins. he strides after his little wife down the wide gray carpeting. so it must be worth quite a lot." "That is your word? Your very final word?" "It is. "They're here. And you know how sensitive Nelson is at the idea of us interfering. a swelling warmth. now that the Tibetans are rioting again? Why.