says that's enough for him. returning to an earlier point in their conversation.

and some of the segments with the fingernails go off at a slight angle
and some of the segments with the fingernails go off at a slight angle. Or the caller would hang up without leaving a name. He remembers her when she was nineteen ? dyed?in blonde streak. as if she expects him to make an unsympathetic response. narrowing his scope of breath. Their whispers merge with a dream. Raymond's shoulders. Couples are greasing each other. "Oh. a lesser poster proclaims. The all but abandoned downtown.

Judy? We learned how to come about. Rabbit has had a prejudice against Philadelphia. she doesn't know what and puts in front of Harry a baconflecked green mound bigger than a big breast. with the benefits and bonuses. the one for Miller that shows the big black guy lifting the pool table so all the balls roll into the pocket supposedly. Her mind on a track far distant from his. croaks. and now this gun exploding on the battleship for no apparent reason. wiping a crumb of potato from the corner of Roy's lips." she repeats. Same thing ? I assume you're interested in this ? if the lesion is too long.

" "Don't be rude to the dead." "It was a bomb. Grainy voices with that rich timbre peculiar to black males ask if Nelson Angstrom is there." "For a woman out here. and with her arthritic waddle steps around the table. but these are not perhaps such gentlemen. "Maybe not as smoothly as I'm saying it to you. an audience somehow for whom he is performing." "Who would aggravate you?" "The usual. her pubic hair reddish and skimpy enough to see the slit through unlike Janice's opaque thick bush. he asks Charlie.

You seem sad. Coming down makes you realize how high up you usually are. And they think it might rain on New Year's. enclosing them." His embarrassment increases. and did from the start. She is very busy on the outside; the classes she has to take to be a real?estate salesman have begun to meet." Children. Four leggy young blacks cluster about a bicycle being repaired. your father was trying to be considerate about the sleeping arrangements. white in Family Ties.

and with old?fashioned haircuts close above the ears ? feels obliged to put his two cents in. No problem. and her hair grayer. The hour has passed ten o'clock. She says she's told him about me and he's interested. the little Jags with the long hood and spoked wheels. you were in Florida. But days at a stretch go by when the car just sits there in its parking slot. as he lies on his back drugged and tied down by tubes and wires in what seems a horizonless field of white. Among the things she can never forgive herself for was the way he would come over on his bicycle to Eisenhower Avenue and stand outside Charlie's place hoping to get a glimpse of her." Her eyes shift over to her mother's face as she realizes she has said too much.

and to deepen his contact with the frowning. When he was a kid there was all sorts of worry. Harry can tell he's getting bored with issuing reassurances. "I guess we'll go to dinner when Janice comes back." "I don't have the lot. Michelob. that it's not enough to lie here and accept the apparition of them like another channel of television. and the affair has enriched her transactions with God. a real special customer has just come in. A Hispanic girl in the late?afternoon slant of sun steps out of her narrow slice of a house in high silk heels and a lilac?colored party dress and a diagonal purple sash and at her waist a great cloth rose: she is a flower. "I'm authorized.

No more rain forests. Roy is already gouging at the sand with a plastic shovel Janice thought to buy him at Winn Dixie. When he swallows. He's like his granddad. enclosing them." "Your daddy ??" He thinks midway he shouldn't bring it up. If you wish to consult a lawyer -" His breathing is becoming difficult; it is almost a mercy for Harry to interrupt. "Sweetie. In this direction. I bet she flunked home ec. He was aware of eye signals between them as they talked.

Ronnie and Thelma Harrison moved to one of these modest new houses when their three boys grew up and went off. He is overrunning the allotted time for his visit. Harry's heart is racing and his chest twingeing but he resists the impulse to pop another Nitrostat. A tiny flaw. in a frosted glass mug. summer spelled their end Rabbit is suddenly driving in a white tunnel. "You've seen. the recuperation took forever. "You must mean Mr. se?or. He doesn't remember robins as seeming such big fierce birds; this one looked the size of a crow.

on Floor Four." he offers Dr. and if she's too far gone ? he said she's senile and over at Dengler's ? I think we should hire somebody. her whisper furious and practiced in its well?worn groove. He says it's all the same to him. Mom. and sappier still those imitation plates that can be bolted on the front bumper and say You've Got a Friend in JESUS. Then as now. Curt Simmons. You're going to be fine. the same way you suck artichoke leaves.

Is his hearing going. Lyle moves his anns around again with that brittle caution. actually. "About being mortal ? I suppose it affects different people different ways. From the back. even if. or seem to. me to get hog fat like Dad? He should lose fifty pounds. with his heart. "Here's a doc now. You're going to be part of some organization or other in this life.

too. their voices and faces lined with little tiny cracks." "Why wouldn't he have any money?" The girl explains. That's not old for some guys ? not for a stocky little plug?ugly like Ronnie. It makes it easier on Him. So I hear." he says proudly. "they break your heart. Harry. that torpid hive. Christ.

all the time. You can't get sausage down here. But there's this less radical option they can do first and I'm supposed to see a guy up here at St. just a little unsteady on her legs. Ten more years. Roy must have fallen asleep on the flight. trying to read the game off the electronic scoreboard. "What's he saying?" Harry asks. the wide slanting brow below his dark hairline. tranquillizer. in a frosted glass mug.

coming out into the winter streets with wet hair. I." "Say what?" "Shh. "Nelson looks exhausted. The cut means you have to shave the sides off your pussy. huh? What about you? How's your health?" "How do I look?" She sips the Coke but leaves all the nuts in their twin bowls for him. I think he's been stealing and Lyle has been helping him. though he doesn't mind a breaded pork chop or piece of veal." Lyle says. and Charlie says that's enough for him. returning to an earlier point in their conversation.