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.

and two life jackets of black foam rubber
and two life jackets of black foam rubber. No fault of yours. The sudden motion gives him a burning pang behind his rib cage. and because her body is there puts his arms around her hips." "Too bad. he was half out of it and then all the way out thanks to something they slipped into him in the confusion. trees on both sides of the street in white blossoms. a friend of Nelson's and Pru's living at the time at Ma Springer's house." "I didn't mean that unkindly. "Just yourself. you were saying. in Pennsylvania. That time she felt she brought Charlie back from the edge of the grave with it.

Mom." she says. so his chauvinism doesn't show. slipper shells are like little boats. cardiac. The stretched chest of her green jumper lifts as she takes in breath to say. like a married rock star or a weekend gangster. His son is carrying his own son on his left arm. the way his shoulders sag in his fancy paisley bathrobe. nobody said it wasn't. A tremor of flight comes alive in his legs. like all the others. "City reduces charge against football star.

though there is no other person in the dream." Harry tells her. he stands less tall than his father. `He could tickle a tapeworm under the chin with that catheter. Dick Sisler in center." "Honey. Plucked strings." "I bet it does. is a disaster. But then you crash quicker. Do you and Janice ever go to church?" Not too surprised. Of all the addresses where Harry has lived in his life ? 303 Jackson Road; Btry A. have subsided.

the old Tamiami Trail. Not you and me." "Mildred's an honest old soul. "You say he acted proud of saving her life?" "On the beach." "Well. but cannot quite suppress his little smile of pride. Nelson has inherited Janice's tense neatness of feature. They have relieved him of his catheter. He's sensitive. the wide slanting brow below his dark hairline." he says. Janice says. Also some remnant of old love ? of old animal magnetism revived in this thronged institutional setting not so different from the high?school corridors where she first became aware of Rabbit Angstrom.

When Nelson finally comes out in his expensive smoky?blue pajamas he is surprised and annoyed to find her here. To screw me. pushy. Maybe 1 corrupted the poor kid. He slumps down lower in the customer's chair. to help her out of it." he begs. This noon when he called from a pay phone in Brewer he expected her to answer and she did. "Just Johnny Carson sometimes when everybody else was asleep. and how they came to be planted here in these hard brick blocks of Brewer. I have hope. with a sob like a hiccup. Harold.

Her body has kept the hard neatness it had when they were kids working at Kroll's but underneath her chin there are ugly folds that ramify into her neck. like state cops with speeding tickets? "I haven't been that impressed by our dealings with Deleon. when America's going down the tubes Oh. of getting your kicks." "Exactly. I was stuck. in shock. They exaggerate everything. The complex fills two blocks on the southern side of Tamarind Avenue. Actually. to that room he can almost taste again. she sees. My associates are eager to settle with anyone of that excellent name.

its Arab?style tiles all stripped away and its marquee. but that fairy got me mad. "And you're a lot like him in a lot of respects. Most of the fat has been pressed out of it." he admits. her round white thighs lost in all those rustling folds and hems. She is dumb. what they've learned to do in the last ten years. doesn't it?" he asks Thelma. But then you crash quicker. Harry can hear his intakes of breath. four acres along Route 111 west of the river. his cardiac parents ? worried little nutbrown mother and outwardly calm and factual father.

one for divers. "He's been a pretty sick lad. Money spooks 'em. I'm sure. He says. "We're not ready for any more. and his lips puff out a little. "I can take or leave the stuff. stubbornly. He climbs two flagstone steps and crosses a little porch; Thelma opens the front door before he can ring the bell. another burden." he says. it got to be an end in itself.

you're hard to resist. or why at least he doesn't need her as much as she does him. do you owe him any money? How much?" "Mom. You have to try to sell what they send us ? the one machine they make that's really moving. his life set at an irresistible forward slant. It doesn't sell for shit now. What is the story. Janice visits him Saturday." He laughs again. the cr??pey skin under her eyes as dead white as the parting in her hair. but it looks cheap inside and pseudo?Audi outside. am I glad to be away from Toyotas! First thing I did was buy myself an oldfashioned American boat. and the old?fashionedly cheap living.

" No one contradicts him. Rabbit supposes. "I'm authorized. of breast cancer that had metastasized. pink stripes with white collar and cuffs. "Oh I can last. rise higher than the wires with their glossy self?advertisements. About once a week also they visit their bank in downtown Deleon. C & S proclaiming All Services. just this sense of presence. After four winters in Florida he knows how the wind off the Gulf can cut into you on the first tee ifyou have an early starting time and the sweaters can be shed only as the sun climbs toward noon. "I do like the way you want to defend me. and to the Ben Franklin.

still feverish with sleep. the red of the stoplights almost invisible. I'm just trying to find out what the fuck is going on. and a few desks. When he was a kid there was all sorts of worry. Hope China comes through for you. Heart thumping. I just know my own son." "Yes. your chest goes hot like you're in an oven. "That's what I was saying. Lake Okeechobee's cure may be hard to swallow. feeling ignored.

He begins. He switches off the set and goes looking for her." "You are to him." he tells her." he says. when they get back. he says." "And I don't?" His eyes water at the thought. Breit. Must be the way they figure. sir. Do you possibly think ??" "Think what?" "That she was just pretending. It costs luxury.

just a few golden rags caught in the shaggy forsythia over toward the neighboring mansion built of thin yellow bricks. and he was off somewhere. and Nevada. a Rachel or Esther with frizzedout hair and a big pale profile. He led Mim into danger but always led her out. Things over at the lot had got to be aggravating. I would need some days to pull all the figures together. so it must be worth quite a lot. and says. "Nothing really. and the voices on the phone. "Apricots dried without sulphur. he hopped into bed every night expecting wonders.

and she was alone with Nelson. as if a filter had been slipped over his eyes. because that's what life is. Does it seem to you. Top of the line. His own capacity to be interested isn't what it should be. She looks in that two?tone running suit and those bulky Adidas like a senior?league bowling champion." "Covering up for Nelson why?" "Well" ? Harry sighs heavily. and less than half Harry's age. I told him he was fired and he said you can't fire somebody with AIDS." "Thelma? We never see her anymore. This woman's abdomen. All I need is to have my wife call you and tell you to show me the books.

its glad cool yellow calling from every yard like a sudden declaration of the secret sap that runs through everybody's lives. five hundred kilos packed in orange crates marked `Fragile' They can't stop dope. Poor Dad. for example. Hey." she says. His first cry turns a number of heads in the corridor. though its shadow has shrunk back to the innermost of its pools. perversely feeling at last in tune with this encounter and excited by her. He ? he takes you too seriously. "I've never understood what men see in each other. Yeah. 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.