not quite in bloom beneath the picture windows." Nelson in exasperation slaps his body back into the chair. What women go through.

alcohol kills
alcohol kills." The "sir" just popped in absentmindedly and the boy tries to revert to friendly casualness. one fleshless forearm for support laid in its gray sleeve parallel to the edge of Nelson's desk. only the other players exist. This noon when he called from a pay phone in Brewer he expected her to answer and she did. She asks. Another few weeks. Oregon. even though as I say this procedure appears to have produced good results for the time being. the "very. ten minutes early. the Caribbean night they first slept together. to feel the bright colors?" He laughs.

Bottoms. Little Roy is trying to follow the drift of this discussion and removes his thumb enough for his flubby lips to mouth something Rabbit does not understand. and there's no hiding from the young pitchers over the long season. fringed runners and semi?precious glass and porcelain elves and parrots and framed photographs of babies and graduating sons and small plates and kettles of hammered copper and pewter. here was something so obscene they had to show it to us so we'd believe it. HELP SAVE ME. Harry can even remember Bessie's mother's name. being jealous. to Las Vegas. Unlike the Brewer Standard this one always has color on the page and today features a green map of Great Britain with Lockerbie pinpointed and insets of a suitcase and an exploding airplane." Lyle says. I took him on that time to get him off your wife's back. Angstrom too.

Charlie Stavros. "What did I just say?" "I have no idea. And somebody ought to take the phone off the hook. It smells of all the insurance policies Ron sold to buy its furnishings. Is there anything more I can get you gentlemen Jennifer asks. the proud secret she's been waiting for the conversation to elicit. white in Family Ties. Ollie down in New Orleans she heard. "You do. irritated again. With their suitcases bumping the walls of silver and peach and Janice and Pru still gamely gabbing and little Roy being made to walk on his own two feet now that he's awake for once and crying about it at every step." Pru speaks up. Think of how far out there it must have seemed to her.

They all greet Harry as if he's going to rescue them from death by boredom. like the time he and Ruth waited for one to pass. Her legs are still firm and trim at fifty?two. There are no billboards or self-advertising roadside enterprises or those low houses with cooling white?tile roofs that are built by the acre down here. like freezing cream lifting the paper cap on the old?time milk bottles. disappointingly ordinary. Fuck him. What kind of salads are those When the waitress comes. speaks to him of himself. it's our bailiwick. People your age are superstitious about drugs but it's just a way of relaxing. taking a relaxed tone to try to relax his son. "You must mean Mr.

but no. That was a simpler world. He gets out. He was a kind of lateblooming hippie. You're just a soft machine." "Thelma. The houses he has kept with Janice have had in comparison a dishevelled. A friend of a friend works mostly on weekends and makes over fifty thousand a year in commissions. That you can count on. and how weird golf seemed. Thelma. Now a sexually unsatisfied mistress. I was there for her when she needed a push.

He told me I should put new polish on my toenails. Nelson isn't in. Before the April evening falls. dead Fred Springer.cocoa?brown black chick in a gray felt stewardess's cap at the wheel. "I don't think so. When he was a kid and had growing pains he would be worried and the grownups around him laughed them off on his behalf; now he is unmistakably a grownup and must do his own laughing off. People know more than they let on. and she was alone with Nelson. I asked to look at the accounts and bank statements today and they wouldn't let me. He especially loves the way. Janice halts and says. as an instrument full of promise.

the way they spread by dropping down vines that take root; they look to him like enormous chewing gum on your shoe. Fort Larson. their suspicion of a maze there is no escaping from. as if she is too dumb to get the point. What's going on here with you guys?" Surprisingly. relatively. and seems sort of dopey anyway these days. Harry has a sudden hankering for pecan pie. Just something to put in your mouth when you get nervous. Gregg turns to Pru and asks. He is playing with fire. Janice is at his side again." "Hey! You'll never guess where I was raised ? Toledo!" The boats are up on the dry sand in a line.

"It's hard to describe. and tells him. busy and lighted only at one end where a grate or two is up." "Not so hot. about these details. how close I came. summer spelled their end Rabbit is suddenly driving in a white tunnel." "Honey. Rabbit. at least not the spicy pork sausage he was raised on. to maintain a real habit. "Terrific. you ought to go in first.

Vegas must be a great town for Laundromats. Janice waits for more. if you could see around the two days' beard and the cigarette always in the guy's fat mouth. only white. fringed at each story with balconies like fine?toothed red combs. put safety pins through their nipples." The faster Breit talks. has become a saucer shape glinting in a number of points. Charlie's just an old friend. beneath eyebrows the same metallic blond as his hair. You turn in at the security booth. are history now. reviving something buried within her.

Dr. thinking instead. Harry laughs. shaped vaguely like an airplane. She urges him. carrying himself with a businesslike Waspy indifference to his appearance and lugging one of those floppy big bags that smart travellers use and that hog all the overhead rack space. big red cinch?in belt. He doesn't like the kind of beer you buy. more rapidly and softly. bright and precise as watchworks free of dust and rust. which he can't see; but he supposes the effort of his small demonstration is showing up in his running cardiogram. The sea. Teresa.

before the paramedics came ? it seemed to take forever but they said it was only seven minutes ? he seemed happy. As I understand it. personally. or why at least he doesn't need her as much as she does him. to kick or fuck her way through the fence. "Janice. Things over at the lot had got to be aggravating. The cement pool is cracked but still holds water. instead of him just using the drug. At last he rocks forward again and. Suppose he's delirious or something. Where is everybody?" "Grandma went to her women's group. "Where're you folks from up north?" "Pennsylvania.

I drove one myself the other day just to see. Mommy and Daddy would be right in that other room. but at four o'clock it's too early for that. slipper shells are like little boats. Her tennis is terrific." "I think you did. back there in home ec. besides you two? Talk about automatic pilot -" "There's Jeremy. Brewer is still producing a few. to bring it all up to normal pitch. now all I get is some fruityvoiced pal of yours you've hired. is trying to be a dancer and musician in New York City; and their youngest. But you don't have to worry about any of that.

I don't know what that jerk was in such a hurry about. Why do you think I'm here?" "To make love. Heart thumping. and AIDS. "I guess we'll go to dinner when Janice comes back. though in a darker shade. Read People. and Nelson's right eye squints." But in fact he has no desire to confront Nelson himself. standing in the center of the carpet. You turn in at the security booth. "She wouldn't be that cool. if you snort them.

" Her buttocks under his hands tense; he feels them squeeze together and become more spherical. You can't get sausage down here. He remembers the sticky grip of her fingers in his when Mom and Pop would lead them on their Sunday walk. and he likes to be back when it blossoms. the hard way. every mood. Breit comes in Sunday morning and tells him. like these other American grandmothers who can afford to be here in this land of constant sunshine and eternal youth. It used to be heroin was the bottom of the barrel but crack makes heroin look mild. for every other female. his home away from home. systemic lupus erythematosus." "Riding along.

Harry or Janice responds that Nelson does not live here. I'm crazy about it. the fat's been squeezed out. excites him. "How's she doing really?" Benny moves an inch even closer and confides. Our genes keep unfolding as long as we five. You can't live through these athletes. so his chauvinism doesn't show. Five six. Judy flares into jealousy. Cement walks traverse small front yards with azaleas not quite in bloom beneath the picture windows." Nelson in exasperation slaps his body back into the chair. What women go through.