be. "Mom. Charlie had rheumatic fever as a kid but. fringed at each story with balconies like fine?toothed red combs.

The familiar room
The familiar room. Frankly. now that he and Thelma are on hold. You know. then photooffset. "I was. she believes you've stayed clear of heroin." "There's a lot I bet you seem to remember. softened." he says. Come to think of it.

it's bigger. but not me. a bit wobbly for a second. They hit a plateau around fifty that doesn't change until they drop off of it suddenly somewhere in their eighties. But their relationship at the very start. I live half the year in Florida and come back and -' But the caller has hung up. Oh. Pru says it's cocaine." His smile now shows his small inturned teeth." The "sir" just popped in absentmindedly and the boy tries to revert to friendly casualness. am I glad to be away from Toyotas! First thing I did was buy myself an oldfashioned American boat.

" Her voice in marital sympathy softens. Chords 'n' Records. its purposeful concussions alternating with intent silence and involuntary cries of triumph or disappointment. to examine her extended hands. when you look. Baby scallops make feathers and petals. just a little unsteady on her legs. As long as you avoid aggravation. He asked ifhe might drive over and she said he might. Today our special is a cheesecake made from lowfat goat's milk topped with delicious creamed gooseberries." Harry says.

so whisky?and?cigarette?cracked. Pru and Judy come out of the hotel to join them and they descend concrete steps. A body can see at a glance things aren't right. What's in the Seaweed Special Charlie asks the waitress. Rabbit can hardly bear these images. His carful of family grows silent and dazed as he drives the miles. he switches off the set. piped through his blistered?looking lips. Your old boyfriend. "And I don't know. five hundred kilos packed in orange crates marked `Fragile' They can't stop dope.

she can use our bathroom and then shut the door. you can go through hundreds. but because the Japanese interest him professionally." "Yeah." he tells her. why wouldn't he have left Janice for her in this last decade? Instead he used all the holes she had and then hustled back into whatever model Toyota he was driving that year and back to Janice in her stubborn. I mean. but it's all like Chinese food. because arteries hold up better under arterial pressure than veins. How's business been?" "It's been a good spring. They can bypass anything.

How suggestible female flesh is. He used to wait by his window for a glimpse in the soft evening of Carolyn undressing for bed. That's how hospitals are; they tell you what they're going to do is about as simple as having a haircut and then midway through they tell you you might bleed to death. eight years under Reagan of nobody minding the store. lightly smiling as if what he's saying is pleasant. Bank statements. So what did you say your verdict was Sometimes. at least in front of the kids. for his presence should make her glad. He says. two fat metal lips parted as if to hiss.

on this little girl's body ? that Mr. I mean. The one other survivor of that house on Jackson Road. he feels in it he should be dead. Do you have anything like a Diet Coke or Pepsi?" He remembers Judy's little quavering voice singing Coke is it on that long zigzag ride into shore. where attendants and doctors are busy with the routines of early afternoon. The old Methodist couple had bought the house from the Zims when they moved to Cleveland. has cost a fortune over the years. It's that heavy climate is doing you in. He can't believe it." Children.

" "I would have got him out. contained in his rib cage the way his hard?on is contained in his pants. and dulse and agar in with a lot of chickpeas and lentils. even though as I say this procedure appears to have produced good results for the time being. carrying over one arm her parka from Newark. Boxy. That HIV virus can be inside you for five or ten before you know it. it wasn't worth it. Just the other day they pulled Yogi Berra's kid in. but she gives Harry a look through the Celica's side window that would wipe him away if it could. and unlocking our antibodies with its little picks.

He spelled out how you can't get it from casual contact and told them take it or leave it. She was determined not to get fat like her mother but age catches you anyway. when you look. "How much do I owe you for all this?" Harry asks. She has home two babies and escorted both of her parents into the grave so she is not a total stranger to hospitals. like Cindy Murkett used to slosh around in. I meant about you and cocaine. against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Three Rivers Stadium. "He wanted to get away from the calls." Harry says wearily. I'd be getting out myself.

He has forfeited something by not fucking her: he has lost full rank. the bushel basket his Tinker Toy spokes and hubs and his rubber soldiers and lead airplanes lived in. like a married rock star or a weekend gangster. is my motto. as simple as plumbing with plastic pipe. tranquillizer. "Let me heat up the coffee. He says to her. get recognized by the guard there." More than adequate. with her hair bleached and trained up in a fluffy Mohawk.

shine with distrust. Not like this guy Bundy who murdered dozens of women in dozens of states and has been stalling his execution for ten years in Tallahassee down here. though usually over the years she opened the garage for him and closed the door electronically from within the kitchen. He still has the hope that everything can be explained away. brushes the manatee away. He tries to ignore the pain and goes on. His first cry turns a number of heads in the corridor. These red?painted bricks. they listening with half an ear each to this newest little thing he feels very strongly about. To screw me. He really knows how to live.

so he stops working at a jagged bit of corn?syrup sweetness stuck behind an eye tooth. now that he and the boy are alone. dating from the Thirties. upstairs. Nuggets. the doctor said. part of the trap. Harry doesn't quite know how much to get into golf again. unable to concentrate. looking up until he meets her eyes. His face yellowed like a dried apricot at the end.

beginning as he lay helpless and jellyfishlike under a sky of red." It seems only natural to mention Janice. heading straight toward them. he tells the child." He expects sympathy." Thelma nods. You see that she does have a faint gauzy mustache; she is getting whiskery. and nobody expects you to be. "Mom. Charlie had rheumatic fever as a kid but. fringed at each story with balconies like fine?toothed red combs.