at the basket out by the garage in the alley ? used to be most intense. unrufed.

but can't see that being specific would do any harm at this point
but can't see that being specific would do any harm at this point. of a polished expensive trap whose doors and valves only open one way. He has plenty of margin still. His receding temples have between them a transparent triangle of remaining hair soon to become an island. to be exact. and kind of paranoid. part of the trap. What did his old basketball coach. "And you're a lot like him in a lot of respects. As they say. But now that he is as sick as if not sicker than she.

" Janice says. Empty to him as seashells in a collector's cabinet. the first time in weeks he's really had the urge. a plastic sphere tilted like Saturn. in synthetic elements. the Camry." He hears in her chest a curious stillness. And those cunning little grandchildren I've heard about. TACO BELL. He is embarrassed: he overestimated how fast Judy was growing. now that his animal fragility has reawakened her awareness of his body.

which is fine and dandy as long as the welldeveloped collateral is supplying the right ventricle from the circumflex. like being dead. beneath eyebrows the same metallic blond as his hair. Janice talks Judy into ordering a lobster and then has to show her how to crack it. on a plaza two blocks back from the beachfront where elevator music is always playing. physically crude. It's that heavy climate is doing you in. Close to it. Charlie points out. loose?jointed." Harry interrupts.

" "You've never loved me. though the development is skimpy on trees." "Chas was not what I'd ever call a boyfriend. you have to specify well?done or it comes rubbery and blue?rare. had an openheart and he says it was hell. Suppose he's delirious or something. as long as people are willing to pay a fortune for it. something with oxygen. "Seven one. like Nelson's. Janice is struck by how much less elaborate the nurses' station is here than in the intensive cardiac?care unit.

and his inherited sharp?chinned accountant's jaw has been softened by a mother's blood and a job of holiday facilitation He smiles. upstairs. His son is carrying his own son on his left arm. five hundred kilos packed in orange crates marked `Fragile' They can't stop dope. the people who play tell me." "Yeah? Join the crowd." "You should? Why not we?" "According to Lyle. That you can count on. This is good." "Come on. Where before? In what life? Pru sits on the hard settee ? uncushioned perhaps to discourage loiterers ? and tries to murmur and joggle Roy into calm again.

At least they went to Florida together. then. The house on Joseph Street. Harry takes the chair across the desk. From the numb look of his prick Roy will be a solid citizen. symmetrical lamps whose porcelain bases show English hunting dogs in gilded ovals. you sound like your mother. "Nobody told me. "Is it hot there yet? How about you coming east to get away from the heat for a couple of weeks? We'll put you up in the guest room above the den and you'll get to know your great?niece and ?nephew. She looks in that two?tone running suit and those bulky Adidas like a senior?league bowling champion. one wop.

she also sees. Sell like Superman. Toyota. "She wouldn't be that cool." "For heaven's sake. Anyway a little bit can't kill you. sir. Same thing ? I assume you're interested in this ? if the lesion is too long. You enter in a kind of foyer. Also. its florets like small pink bachelor buttons and the whole droop?branched womanly forgiving shape of it gathering to itself a neon pallor as the shadows lengthen and dampen; the earth's revolution advances a bit more and the scraps of sunlight linger longer under the April sky with its jet trails and icy horsetails.

clings. and neither does the 4?Runner. Easter eggs in a papery nest. Myocardial infarction. past the performance board and the Parts window and the crash?barred door that leads into the garage. brilliant white teeth. that's the way we move along now. Ass. A tiny flaw. I'm unemployable. Mom.

" Harry says. I still think I'm God. "It eats up the dollars. it takes months for the order to come through. He feels Judy ease her weight from his side and with that exaggerated. Roquefort. but not always: Barbra. "They're called lines. I mean. "I guess you've come onto the job since I was last here. "I don't think so.

All you have to do is call up this Lyle. It got cold. I'm sorry I told you half of what I did." "Mom. "Nelson used to talk a lot about Slim. just like you. No more rain forests. one way or another. Olman tells her." But he is breathing hard. to keep our minds off what morons they are.

" he calls. Do you possibly think ?? I can't make myself say it. coming to points under the lobes of her exposed white ears. her best feature as a girl and woman. They treat us like dirt. I loved Mim. is trailing unnaturally close behind. Not that he can ever sleep late the way he did as a young man or even in his forties. when he turns his eyes aside from watching the television screen. All I can be from here on in is her husband. his hand jumping the way it does when he's feeling crowded in the chest.

At the Angstroms' own turnoff. pointed black boots. She asks. I'm just trying to find out what the fuck is going on. The raw glory of it all overpowers for a moment the nagging aches and worries in his chest and releases him into self?forgetfulness. that skeleton?generous grin. baby colors on Kewpie?doll shapes. Getting a hard?on you can feel the foreskin sweetly tug back. "The reason I haven't left Janice and never can now. You would have thought Charlie would be dead by now. They're still giving us cars that look like gas?misers when there's been a gas glut for ten years.

baby colors on Kewpie?doll shapes. stopping now and then at the overhead lights that signal an intersecting road." "We need it. You chop up this powder with a razor blade on a mirror usually and make them into lines about an eighth of an inch wide and an inch or two long. one more or less. as a matter of fact. the works. "I thought Lyle was sick. is a disaster. when play ? the last round of Horse at the basket out by the garage in the alley ? used to be most intense. unrufed.