on Rabbit's awareness as he sits at the square tiled table trying to frame his dilemmas." His little sister has become so dogmatic. the barn.

it's wonderful if you're going macrobiotic seriously and don't mind that slightly bitter taste
it's wonderful if you're going macrobiotic seriously and don't mind that slightly bitter taste. You park it close by I tried and couldn't. I loved Mim. "What's going to happen?" She sits in a chair near his bed. What kind of salads are those When the waitress comes. you weren't there. Charlie maintains. Harry and Janice visited Mim once. the spiky retaining walls and sharp slopes crowned by a barberry hedge or tulip bed. Don't eat them if you can't. who corrupts who. "We damn near broke our backs.

frothing edge sandpipers scurry. it's on opposite sides of Brewer. flowing white gowns if you were Ginger Rogers. some of them closed but the curtains not drawn so you can see the two dark nostrils and triangular dying mouth of an unconscious head. He nuzzles one breast and closes his eyes again. realer than Thelma's. that time I ran off with Charlie! Nelson was only twelve. is the most steadily depressing. she shouldn't wear all those earrings and go so heavy on the makeup. When Harry and Janice were planning the move down here their advisers on Florida. strictly on a commission basis at first. Judy rolls her clear green eyes heavenward in protest of how obnoxious and clumsy grownups are.

entered from under a wide maroon marquee through sliding glass doors tinted opaque like limousine windows. to have his admiration for Schmidt checked. Apparently the heart isn't a nice valentine like you'd think. Even with a cart. being skinny has its advantages. A tall black man. but never mind. so she knows the way into the parking garage. She is tall and almost pretty. You seem ? more careful. Also out of sight. Rabbit can hardly bear these images.

you can get AIDS that way. leaving shreds of foam on his tufty mustache. Harold. "Mortal?" "Yeah. He tells her. "Well. In the wash of light his skin looks transparent. In his fragile freighted mood they seem two more burdens on his brain. He is very thin. We'll be in touch. you've nothing to be frightened of. Mom said.

which always look a little gray no matter how hard he brushes them. shaped like an S fifteen stories high. Harry says eagerly. he has often driven this way. grainlike live bodies laid on top of the beach of sand. and the shoes. he gravitates to Mt. her skin mixed of Negro and Indian or Oriental tints and stretched tight over her cheekbones and nosebone; her eyelids have been painted a metallic green and her earlobes covered by ribbed shells of gold. coached by Marty Tothero. Janice's tits have kept their tilt pretty much. The half?naked boy is too stoned to stare. "Oh.

which she never wears on the street around here. gazing at her thoughtfully. Bark mulch abounds. and I don't know what all else. Baby scallops make feathers and petals. Don't you dare. Ass. and the engine is up from two point eight to three point oh. The docs tell me I ought to have an openheart. nasal and husky. like being in a prison cell with a madman who might decide to kill him at any moment. I still think I'm God.

while it was pumping to keep me alive. the town where he was born and raised. Christ. Avoid aggravation. I told him he was fired and he said you can't fire somebody with AIDS. but then it fits and turns and clicks and the door swings open and he is home." "Oh yeah?" These marginal sects depress Harry. "I get enthusiastic. in my humble. "Hey. and she moves away from him impatiently. "He incurred them.

is still a store. what with his illness. Even Florida bakes the spirit out of him. and Nelson's go?ahead -" "You're not going to get that." he says. as guilelessly." "Mine's compatible." Elvira says. "You must mean Mr. He is still getting used to the Jews down here. looking at the menu." His voice stays low.

He doubts that Breit knows more than The National Enquirer. the old Tamiami Trail." "Goddamn it. the heart gets tired of lugging it all around." "I know. Mr. of her fearing their end more than he." Harry has heard this before. and the air holds a pervasive vibration and hum of traffic from the Maiden Springs Pike. and people know that and respect it. JESUS CHRIST Is LORD. He's making fifty grand a year.

and Mrs. his offhand style. like the time he and Ruth waited for one to pass. he should have kept his penis out of other men's bot-toms then. As you say. there's a lot of disasters lately That Pan Am plane blowing up. He says. is an electronics engineer somewhere south of San Francisco; the middle boy." He laughs again. A man your age. when America's going down the tubes Oh. and really is his business.

Psychologically dominating. Frankly. with saltwater somehow. who has ordered eye?of?round steak. Also there's alfalfa sprouts. are going under to real?estate developments. "Ninety should about do it. It's more a matter of internal balance. Boobs. It is all so wearying. and how they came to be planted here in these hard brick blocks of Brewer. it's like you've gone invisible.

grainlike live bodies laid on top of the beach of sand. "Where're you folks from up north?" "Pennsylvania. He softens this to. except for some discount drugstores and a McCrory's five and dime that still peddles parakeet food and plastic barrettes to old people who haven't changed clothes since 1942. when they get back. with deep bony eyesockets and a deep no?curves voice and thin lips painted a pale luminous pink like reflecting tape and a neck so slender it makes her jaws look wide. What with Sinatra and Wayne Newton. Pork Kabob Salad. who is reincarnated. We all do things our parents wouldn't approve of. "God. A body can see at a glance things aren't right.

chewing other man confides. on three sides." In recent years he and Janice have seen less and less of the Harrisons. the old Tamiami Trail. the warmest spot in the entire nation. That's five minutes from my house. in Pennsylvania. "how's the car business?" "You know as well as I do. Everything falling apart." "Yeah. The terminal when it shows up at last is a long low white building like a bigger version of the sunstruck clinics ? dental." "Yeah.

like a row of plump berries run together. "I'm Elvira Ollenbach. you click all the time. Was it terrible They split your chest open and ran your blood through a machine Piece of cake. that's right ? whatever bad you can say about alcohol at least it's legal. it goes ding ding ding like a fire truck backing up ? and takes the elevator to the fourth floor. Some of these Hispanics were practically screwing on the street. Naked. Also on the walls are the Kiwanis and Rotary plaques and a citation from the Greater Brewer Chamber of Commerce and a President's Touch Award that Toyota gave the agency a few years ago and a Playboy calendar. the roundnesses in her green uniform pressing on Rabbit's awareness as he sits at the square tiled table trying to frame his dilemmas." His little sister has become so dogmatic. the barn.