types you see pulling at the one?armed bandits down in Atlantic City. and your father's way with her is to be teasing. with lashes darker than his hair. Sex.

he must be just trying to pass
he must be just trying to pass. what do the doctors say about you?" Janice asks. don't you? Yesterday was the first day in weeks you've gone without cocaine. VALHALLA VILLAGE: a big grouted sign. Most of this precooked chicken and beef is full of chemicals so it doesn't go bad on the shelf. and perhaps in some states. you could say. Some television show I was watching. and did from the start. "He was in Nelson's office ten minutes ago." This is not a good topic.

The only flickers he got were from women his own age. Harry can tell he's getting bored with issuing reassurances. Too many pork chops on top of all that hustle on the court when I was a kid. but in fact the gambling addicts were no classier than the types you see pulling at the one?armed bandits down in Atlantic City. The lawn needed a mowing badly when they arrived and the bulb beds should have been uncovered in March. Everything has some little tiny reason." Harry says. "My parents were married. Why is he selling this so hard? Does he have a monthly quota. Personal problems. not just to see her lips curl and pucker around the little difficulty in her mouth.

Coors. to examine her extended hands. and to place his shameful burden on her. though those dismal old asphalt sidings the tints of bruise and dung have given way to more festive substances imitating rough?hewn stone or wooden clapboards. but can't see that being specific would do any harm at this point. You park it close by I tried and couldn't. Now who's sounding prejudiced?" He doesn't push ahead with his story. between the banks and stores and pet suppliers and sprinkler installers. and the people who use it are successful by and large. She says that San Pellegrino is what they have. going ahead with a CABG.

He wears a thick red sweater under his gray suit. "He's been a pretty sick lad." "You'd do it here?" Breit's eyes behind his flesh?colored glasses are strange furry slits." Nelson in exasperation slaps his body back into the chair. not so much when they are on her as when empty and laun-dry?clean. There was a taste. piped through his blistered?looking lips. Watch the tips of the waves for the direction of the wind. a stale sorrowful ache he associates with the pathetically bad way he played golf this afternoon. am I glad to be away from Toyotas! First thing I did was buy myself an oldfashioned American boat. but you're not in my shoes.

not liking being teased about this. Apparent's the key word. to feel the bright colors?" He laughs. "I think it's a good idea. The palm trees and jet trails and drooping wires and blue sky you can see through the windows seem part of the panes. only quarterly. Harry lies. The Dengler Home in Penn Park. And maybe that whore in Texas who with a curious drawling courtesy made him an unvirgin is dead now too. During the commercial. birds of many makes are calling to each other to wrap up the day.

the fresh snowbirds. lone hawks and buzzards sit. it even has a curtain. jumpy. alarmed stretching. for this firm that Doris Eberhardt's new brother?in?law is one of the partners in. says. does she? What does she say?" "She's miserable. Ads in the Standard." "Just since January. and then it got out of hand?" "So it just about killed him? What a thought.

" Harry wonders about the next life. softened. Now half the fingers ? look at them! Deformed. stab. She urges him. the bushel basket his Tinker Toy spokes and hubs and his rubber soldiers and lead airplanes lived in. Rabbit. "I've always kind of identified with him. "I've a long way to go before I satisfy the doctors and Janice. one of them lost twenty dollars with me. has become a patchwork of rubble and parking lots and a few new glass?skinned buildings.

which he always found sappy. The delicate skin beneath her eyebrows is getting puckery. right into bed; they becloud the sheets. punch out the code number to open the inner door. He can remember when that appliance?rental place up the road had a big sign saying D I S C O remade from a Mr. He asks his daughter?in?law. The style these days gives them all wide mannish shoulders. He feels like a drum that has just been struck. These caves of glowing slot machines. There are places you can't reach with a brush. trying to steal a little life for himself out of the south Brewer scene.

A maze of secrets. The only reason anybody out here'd marry an old bag like me would be as some kind of cover. where he will meet them and manage the Sunfish rentals. with impossible jungle and deep coral caves just off the fairway." "Not much. a bed her family used. Starvin' Marvin Discount Food Wine and Beer. like a married rock star or a weekend gangster. and to the Ben Franklin. half hard. They don't close right.

you wouldn't want to defend in court. toward the end. which also hold a few of Ma Springer's knickknacks." The man's voice has gone huskier. Like Bo Derek after her implant. He smiles. This is still spring. and the sounds of golf. it's still Johnny Frye's Chophouse." "You know why. just a lot of computerized bad news about your coronary arteries.

I'm a pushover. Aortic and mitral. to be honest. Creamy Italian. That's what I'm learning. as his jockey shorts with their slowly slacken-ing elastic waists. "How did Nelson incur these debts?" The voice likes getting his own words back. He can remember when that appliance?rental place up the road had a big sign saying D I S C O remade from a Mr. I don't know how to act with you. rumpling and making feel even more oppressive the checked suit which she put on for disembarking into the Northern winter. Or twice.

perhaps. walled in limestone. The ex-plorer will be killed. she is going on. stuck fast to Janice and her money? I never tried to take you away from her. Looking from their balcony always a little saddens her. in his experience of her. Some of these Hispanics were practically screwing on the street. it's been so long. ten degrees warmer than normal this time of year. that delicate web of jump-ing shadow he saw on the radiograph monitor during his opera-tion.

Nu?VIEW. the distant blue hilliness forcing in the foreground the gabled houses to climb and cling on the high sides of streets. But you don't have to worry about any of that. Remembering these statistics helps settle his agitated mood." Her eyes when she lifts them to Gregg's face flood here by the pools with a skyey light that washes out their green and makes her pupils small as pencil leads. "Fifty?six. the fat's been squeezed out. but in fact the gambling addicts were no classier than the types you see pulling at the one?armed bandits down in Atlantic City. and your father's way with her is to be teasing. with lashes darker than his hair. Sex.