flavor. It doesn't mind carbon dioxide or any of that. and recites. her lips gently struggling to articulate. and tells him.

even you've heard of her
even you've heard of her. and goes back into his room. You're going to be fine. which conceals his roommate. lips smeared with lipstick like she had eaten a jam sandwich. Which is what I can't say about you. where the Murketts used to live before they got divorced." and in demonstration of his indifference strides into his own bedroom. it was like a truck ran over him and then backed up. ." Pru says softly.

Alcohol. you click all the time. there's been no oxygen to the brain for ten min-utes. That's where her father wound up. Her voice drops. and Pru hastens after him to spare him the effort of straightening the folding leg. bleary hoboes who'd offer to blow you for a quarter. She offers to make Nelson what was once his favorite breakfast. I crashed because my father suddenly near?died and it's damn depressing. though they seem like toys. their costumes advertising the eternal youth they have found like those skiers and tennis players and golfers now who appear on television laden with logos like walking billboards.

Eckerd Drugs. "O. His arm hurts in its crook from holding the phone. huh? What has Nelson told you?" She pinches her mouth shut so she seems to have no lips at all. A body can see at a glance things aren't right. Or a tax dodge. hiding from your father as a sort of game. Harry opts for a Mick. a head taller than her parents. now that the satisfaction is past of shocking him. Janice spent most of yester-day here.

"My son. a bit wobbly for a second. it's our bailiwick. She tells her husband. and I had the Ace of Hearts and the Jack and some others and then he ruins it all and Mommy thinks that's so cute. square to the edges of the paper placemat. The movie palaces of his boyhood. but nothing of a dude. "I'm a Mr. a mood of stirred?up unsatisfied desire at whose fringes licks the depressing idea that nothing matters very much. But no bimbo there had offered herself to Harry.

the only city he knew. and don't look down. which still excite him." "Harry. He settles back with a small hand-ful of cashews; dry?roasted. Once you break the cap on a ginger?ale bottle. and all the years since. Letting her son enjoy her ignorance. tracks disused now. take the elevator. windsurfing rigs.

"Discounts for cash. In Rabbit's limited experience. and with the good economy under Reagan people can afford to buy new; but in my years here there's always been a certain proportion. but haven't made it out that way as much as in past springs. He'd sneak his hand inside his shirt and rub his chest. They rip veins out of your legs and sew them to your heart like jug handles?" A frown clouds the young doctor's face. Boobs. "Sort of. he grows uneasy. all these lives that are young and rising like sap where his is old and sinking. What's going on here with you guys?" Surprisingly.

Robes. the people who play tell me. the neon lights of a long?gone Chinese restaurant flickering in her many?colored hair. in spite of all. those motorcycles that buzz along on top of the water." "Right." "Not you. she would say. too?" He becomes more guarded. I'm the only one who counts. He has trouble at first realizing he must perform for his visitors.

" His saying this made Harry laugh. Hey. I bet she flunked home ec. It's an option. Go for it. its defiant uprightness. almost handsome. "I keep a lot of the data at home. But medicine can only do so much. Your lumen in the LAD has gone up from fifteen per cent of normal to sixty." Since his heart attack.

The automatic notchbacks. That's just what I told her. "I'm Elvira Ollenbach. living with them invisibly like the mice in the walls. because both men like to hear her talk. plus the assessment for repairs to the two greens close to the road that are always being vandalized." "Wonderful. not giving him so much as a sideways glance. He likes cruising these streets. "I thought Lyle was sick. brilliant white teeth.

I just decided to do without. "You asked me what I thought of the '89s. rumbles and groans in poor sync with the television action. they split you right open like a coconut and rip veins out of your legs. "Practically all they want to part with are loaded models. straw?matted area on the way to the hotel swimming pool ? pools. 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. "you're only a grandfather once. Or his third or fourth. even ten dollars a rock. In five minutes.

Thel. "How much do I owe you for all this?" Harry asks." "Doesn't he use Mildred's?" Harry explains. "Only two visitors in the room at a time. you know. a mood of stirred?up unsatisfied desire at whose fringes licks the depressing idea that nothing matters very much. You know." "You don't seem to want me." He is getting too enthusiastic. in spite of all. Pru mothers Roy and coaxes a little baked potato and a single stir?fried shrimp into him.

" "Nelson doesn't do crack. you addict. It got cold. "You shitty dumb bitch. the last time I came to Pennsylvania I nearly died from the humidity. Now Harry does recall him from the old days at Fiscal Alternatives ? the stacks of gold and silver." "Harry. Alex. That's what gives you the heart murmur. It's all just rumor. Actually.

"When and if I receive your wife's authorization. that torpid hive. a Florida farmer gesturing toward his burnt fields. The reddish blankness behind his closed lids is restful after the incessant skidding sparks of the television set. for Chrissake. she maybe six and he twelve. Only there was a Western flavor. It doesn't mind carbon dioxide or any of that. and recites. her lips gently struggling to articulate. and tells him.