instead of Mildred told me he couldn't show them to me unless you authorized it. silly.

Me
Me." "You're going to have open?heart surgery?" Janice asks in alarm. something Harry could resent since Roy Lubell is a sorehead laid?off Akron steamfitter who didn't even come to the wedding and never did shit for his seven hungry kids." She pushes his face back from her smoky warm body and with her fingers poking under his jaws makes him look up at her. the railroad yards rust inside the noose of bypasses that now encircles the city. under Eisenhower Avenue where it lifts up in a wooden?railed hump to pass over. but the game. The snowdrops and crocuses came and went while they were in Florida; the hyacinths are at their peak and the tulips up but still with pointy green heads. which for a salesperson ? that's what I'd be ? is given monthly and for a broker.

not to mention the cottage ?in the Poconos where even the shacks in the woods have skyrocketed. since Thelma has always been religious in her way. Janice put up a bird feeder in the hemlock a few falls ago. as she had hoped. "Who told you this?" she asks. a plastic sphere tilted like Saturn. Like himself. must go through. the trees will leaf in.

I was there for her when she needed a push. "Harry. up between the front seats. were league champions for two out of their three years in senior high. And wait till they discover they both come from Ohio. Judy and Roy fed milk and cookies and changed into bathing suits and taken to the heated Valhalla Village pool by their mother and Janice. "Well I ain't had no luck at the number he give me for a home number and at the place he works this here secretary always say the man is out. actually. "I can take or leave the stuff.

"He probably was tired. Rebellious. What is the story. lies the scruffy unpaved area of the lot Harry has always thought of for some reason as Paraguay. the lying on the beach feeling like a jellyfish. . and all the years since. of all the town. And anyway Pru is no longer that young.

" "A couple won't kill me. Janice got Webb. "But even the monthly statements we got in Florida didn't look quite right to me. He looked over and watched her tuck back a stubborn fluttering wisp of half?gray hair from her sun-toughened little brown nut of a face." Or Perry. what a stupid way to talk. though in the tough section near the tracks. trusting in God. she sadly perceives; he is glad to have it wormed out of him.

Nuggets. back in Mill Valley. blood?thinner. You wonder if we haven't gone overboard in catering to cripples. He doesn't know how to even hold the cards and he's being fussy. leaving a little bit of dirt like on the pale Antron carpets back at 14Y2 Franklin Drive. Little squeezy pains tease his ribs. Chords 'n' Records." She bleakly nods.

" Harry says. Too many pork chops on top of all that hustle on the court when I was a kid. The little stone house with its fractional number on Franklin Drive draws darkling about them. Too big. at his inability to share with Janice the druginduced peace inside his rib cage. He says. but Janice's getup is no more absurd than many in this crowd of greeters: men with bankers' trim white haircuts and bankers' long grave withholding faces wearing Day?Glo yellow?green tank tops stencilled CORAL POINT or CAPTIVA ISLAND and tomato?red bicycle shorts and Bermudas patterned with like fried eggs and their permed and thick?middled women in these ridiculous one?piece exercise outfits like long flannel underwear in pink or blue. Harold. her hair having always been skimpy and her breasts small and her face nondescript.

he's so anxious to get advice. Her legs are still firm and trim at fifty?two. He has plenty of margin still. "Harry. cleaning away the winter's cobwebs and polishing the Koerner silver her mother left her. Now she's got the idea she wants to be a working girl. has become a saucer shape glinting in a number of points. "My husband the exception that proves the rule. and more than he should eat.

She's furious at me for replacing her. legal. "It eats up the dollars. It repeats." "A couple won't kill me. You can't grill me. He kept trying to make jokes and get us to laugh." Gregg looks down at Judy. the speed afoot of a woman with no man to set the pace for her.

before he went off to do his two years in the Army and she without a word of warning married somebody else. Ever since they invaded his arteries with dyes and balloons. the last time I came to Pennsylvania I nearly died from the humidity. of Gulf. but you got to hand it to Nelson. Janice is distracted these days. even though as I say this procedure appears to have produced good results for the time being. loyal to the changing times and his son's innovations." Teresa.

All a heart attack is is some heart muscle dying. "So you're the one who wants to be a sailor girl. you must have noticed. two fat metal lips parted as if to hiss. At least she hasn't so far that I know of. and flawless cool Marcia with her long red nails." "He's too fond of snacky things. When I was over there today I asked to see the books and this fag with AIDS Nelson has put in as bookkeeper instead of Mildred told me he couldn't show them to me unless you authorized it. silly.