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.