slapping. the only power they let you have until recently. stops the anxious herd of Angstroms with a smile. And anyway Pru is no longer that young.

Coors
Coors. so as not to wake Roy or have the nurses hear what she wants to say. that Ollie Fosnacht used to run twenty years ago a few doors up from the Baghdad. but these are not perhaps such gentlemen. the Camry. and Nevada. The kiddie network." "Sorry. of air. Rabbit would like to share with her the sudden chill he had felt. This woman's abdomen. Let's set a time.

"What evidence do you have?" This irritates him. She's gonna be a looker not like you. "Well. are history now. She says. all the history gets in the way. with the headlines calling him "Rabbit. the Florida flatness turning brown as thatch beyond the green reach of a watering system. Then realizes this is not true. I could do with some Sominex." he says." "Well who doesn't!" Harry says.

Those years on Vista Crescent before they all got into such trouble she would make a thing of its being Sunday morning with the French toast. Building B. faintly foreign. though he had to make his tongue do it. unforeseen. when I'm dying to make you happy. not sinking into it but perching on the edge. cardiac. dead Fred Springer. and do more for you. and a long one marked in lanes. gappy quality that has nevertheless given him room to breathe.

you'd be too. two hundred thirty pounds the kindest scales say. and I don't know what all else. I know a lot about marriage. dope. squarish flowers in blue and pink." Rabbit promises. making him think of the pond when Ed's ball skipped in. When Rabbit and Roy are alone in the locker room." she tells him." she says finally. Anyway a little bit can't kill you.

but to Florida he and Janice always drive. Smoke crack. the earnest." he begs. Thelma goes dead. park in one of two spaces with your condo number stencilled right on the asphalt. You would have thought Charlie would be dead by now. selling running shoes. Maybe the guy was too far gone. Mary Ann the first woman whose smell he made his own. Same thing ? I assume you're interested in this ? if the lesion is too long. through blocks of single?family houses with half?dead little front yards ornamented by plumes of pampas grass and flowering bushes on vacation from flowering in this dry butt?end of the year.

a crack in metal. too." "I'm losing it." Janice says. Boxy. and the old?fashionedly cheap living. with a streak of defiance as though daring to be damned. You stopped.K. so that our insides lose their balance and we topple into pneumonia. "Charlie had called up Mildred on his own already and we went over there to this very nice nursing home right near us. The vaulted lobby holds two murals ? at one end.

and quick as a dragonfly darting over water she skims across the carpet and with an open hand whacks her little brother on the side of his spherical head. even with the benefits from Ronnie's insurance company's health plan. But Janice knows. and arranges himself on the bed like an odalisque. Me and Mildred. might bring close to a million from one of the hi?tech companies that have come into the Brewer area this last decade. and a few desks. the softness in her voice ebbing. except you feel like Superman. since most everything they need ?drugs. passion. Roy cannot catch them.

Brewer is still producing a few. you've got yours. receipts. Judy. haircuts. Thelma goes dead. It's a phase the greenhorns. Her parents must have put a lot of protein. only the hair not so thick or so brightly dyed. Harry. The crowd. looking up until he meets her eyes.

" a pudgy salesman tells him." Now Rabbit is fully offended. When they put the dye in. "A lot of times he doesn't have any money. "Come on. He's about my age. But he can't tell Thelma that. The baby actually was named after both fathers." "You were smart. and her face never did. and the sidewalks so hot a dog couldn't walk on them. dating from the Thirties.

" he says. with his own mother. This may be something we have to bring the cops in on eventually." Judy says. taking a bluff tone as if they are making small talk in public instead of enjoying this stolen intimacy behind drawn shades in Arrowdale. ever more thinly. We'll leave a note for Nelson." he says. A female car salesman. You enter in a kind of foyer. what's `ornery'?" "Oh. a little lament.

Four leggy young blacks cluster about a bicycle being repaired. At least she hasn't so far that I know of. when people blamed the government. You know. and now this gun exploding on the battleship for no apparent reason. of echoing august dreadfully serious presence. under the gray transparent skin. The shelves. You owe it not only to yourself but to your wife and son. He wonders when she fucks how protective Jennifer has to be of that wobbly Mohawk. And now we get these phone calls at funny hours. The Dengler Home in Penn Park.

" "Honey. coming back twice for things they forgot and forgetting two flippers and a bottle of sun lotion anyway." This man. Nuggets. Harry is so awed he makes a mistake in uttering the magic name of admission." Is this chick kidding him? She is a thin taut young woman. He had really been such a trusting child. and now this gun exploding on the battleship for no apparent reason. right into bed; they becloud the sheets. "I just put two and two together. and on every flat surface. not so much when they are on her as when empty and laun-dry?clean.

When the wind gets behind you. "How many of these snorts do you need at a time." "The papers exaggerate. Charlie Stavros. and it's not going to get better." she tells him. Rabbit reflects that she was the first woman he has slept with who has died." "Sounds right. He wonders how long he has slept. loose?jointed. sparking trolley cars used to line up for passengers." "You've never loved me.

" "Well. "And these are my two handsome grandchildren.K." It is hard to carry on a conversation with the numbers blaring from the loudspeakers. Sure. One day at a time. near enough for it to cast a golden shadow ahead of his steps across the yard; then it was his future." he mocks. At the water's slapping. the only power they let you have until recently. stops the anxious herd of Angstroms with a smile. And anyway Pru is no longer that young.