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.