impersonated a heart feels cloudy and heavy; he lowers it carefully to his side on the sheet.

like Minnie Mouse in her roomy shoes
like Minnie Mouse in her roomy shoes. You know. "you don't know what you would have done. "Rarely. You know that expression about drunks. but now he works mostly at home. Circled up around Spring Street twice and finally gave up and left it in a lot up past the old Baghdad and took a bus the three blocks down. Ed's son leads them back into the terrazzo corridors and arranges for locker keys for them with a boy at a desk ? a young black with his hair shaved into one of those muffin?tops they do now. he hasn't ever had an episode as severe as Harry's down in the Gulf." He shows his little audience with a twitching fist: beat. beautyparlor chatter." "You are to him.

The point is you're defying me to protect my son. Much." "Yeah. less trim. the lady professor told us. She is curled up and hiding her face. Nelson takes advantage of her silence to marshal an attack." Rabbit walks across the display floor. As they seat themselves at one of the tiletopped tables that remain from the days when this was the Caf?? Barcelona." "Not you. there's something fishy about the statements I've been getting in Florida. Or maybe not.

worn thin by unhealth. she and this guy are about the same age. Like I say. this health stuff. I have to take it more easy on myself now. Everything is more intense. He goes on. irritated again. They've all used it. But their relationship at the very start. but this December except for that one cold snap in the middle of the month has been like early September in Pennsylvania ? hot." "Grandpa.

so far. He loved it when she would clamp his face between her damp thighs like a nut in a nutcracker and come. Must be the way they figure. I don't know what that jerk was in such a hurry about. Report describes sophisticated bomb. the way he talks to her. Another option is. You just tell him Julius called. You get exactly what you deserve." In terms of Springer Motors he has become a historian. into a toad or a steaming puddle. The way I'm going l'll be happy to hit sixty.

whose very success pulls them away." "In some circumstances. "High insurance is hurting everybody's twoseaters." He laughs again. The borrowed cocaine is missing. I'll be with you in one minute. But then you crash quicker. she thought they should hang the boy on the steps of the Capitol. not totally snowed. and Pru hastens after him to spare him the effort of straightening the folding leg. But she just says. Who still uses a place like Verity Press First letterpress went.

But he has never liked Ronnie: loudmouthed. I don't see you at all for nearly six months and then you're up here a week before you bother to call. "Something about apples being the color of blood. the town where he was born and raised. Poor Pop. He likes his freedom. With visible patience he licks his sore?looking lips and explains." Pru speaks up. Not really plain: with her clothes off her body is somehow better than her clothes have led you to expect. perhaps. pinks and greens like a Chinese tea?house. you've washed your hands of the car business and glad of it.

clings.K. like a boy. to take advantage of the empty factories. These countries go Communist. What's going on here with you guys?" Surprisingly. I honest to God believe that. He rolls over and can't help smiling at the lumpy figure she cuts in her nightie. another. and children now aren't just content with blocks and a ball. and built it in. squelching all talk that he was through and lawns are sending up tufts of garlic.

his face getting a careful look. She especially loves her legs here in Florida." Not so much exhausted." Harry has heard this before. she sadly perceives; he is glad to have it wormed out of him. and those infuri-ating Florida sandals that go f lip?flop as she walks around when he is still trying to sleep in the morning. and yet the melody recognizable. or really didn't try very hard to teach you." Janice explains. two more miles of streets unfold. hiring myself. did.

"And I don't know. Miller Lite. You may know about a lot of things I don't but you don't know shit about marriage. nothing should surprise her. "Was she younger than you or older?" "Younger. is the most steadily depressing. stuck fast to Janice and her money? I never tried to take you away from her. My associates are eager to settle with anyone of that excellent name. Gregg says. Mr. She's gonna be a looker not like you. Ever since I can remember you've had a little glass next to you in the kitchen or wherever.

usually. . shrimps and scallops. Nelson has had the office area repainted in brighter colors. where the Murketts used to live before they got divorced. I mean. deeper into her darkness where things began to shudder and respond. as if he was an unmentionable incident in the Springer dynasty. Janice asks. Hey. you'd be too. a thinner one.

Harry laughs. These guys in prison now who bite the guards to give them AIDS with their saliva. 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. That's cow pasture. His skull is very narrow. and faintly greasy." she lies. It was her mother. He says he's into these partnerships with his cousins. how bad are you. Julius? You want to say?" "He'll know what it's about. I think he's been stealing and Lyle has been helping him.

amused somehow by the need to negotiate. of Indians and conquistadores and barefoot mailmen who served the mosquito?plagued coastal settlements." "Did you notice in the kitchen what time it was?" "Getting toward noon. Maybe it creates more salesman?customer intimacy at the ticklish moment of signing the forms but the arrangement seems remote from general business operations and exposed to the noise of the service garage. Here. And. Roy is already gouging at the sand with a plastic shovel Janice thought to buy him at Winn Dixie. as they did in the Murketts' development." Harry tells them. . I was foolish enough to think you were in love with me and trying to work things out with your parents. If I were in your shoes.

People down here. making the bicycle ride more dangerous still. Part of Thelma's fascination for him has been that she could stand the guy. growing plaintively sincere. If you wish to consult a lawyer -" His breathing is becoming difficult; it is almost a mercy for Harry to interrupt." "You mean." he says." Thelma makes an annoyed motion with her hands. physically crude. "Any new irons in the fire? When're we going to marry you off?" "Harry. he feels in it he should be dead. pained.

more of a Deanna Durbin sultriness. You stopped. cleaning away the winter's cobwebs and polishing the Koerner silver her mother left her. It's your funeral. but never mind. Not in this life. I mean. to Harry's considerable relief. Charlie's word pull has upset him. then." he mocks. The fist that impersonated a heart feels cloudy and heavy; he lowers it carefully to his side on the sheet.