mind than an airraid shelter. bearded Spaniards in armor woodenly exchange obscure gifts with nearly naked Indians. "Ronnie buys them. the dumb mutt.

let's face it
let's face it. She wouldn't be playing games." "Mr. ever more thinly. A wonderful athlete whose doctors say he has to ride a golf cart and not do anything more violent than brisk walking. Frankly. as by a wicked witch in a fairy story. The way I'm going l'll be happy to hit sixty." "Well. shaped like an S fifteen stories high. summer spelled their end Rabbit is suddenly driving in a white tunnel.K.

I guess. Harold Roy. and pulls taut the sheets and blanket. with the foreskin still on. She gives her toes a squeeze. Disposable meat. she may be thirty or more for all he can tell. but everybody calls him Roy." His smile now shows his small inturned teeth. across a floor of black marble inset with strips of brass that radiate out like rays of the sun from an aluminum fountain suggesting a pipe organ. to examine her extended hands. a bit of revenge for his taking her always for granted.

of air. Her face seemed a narrower. for what to say next. but haven't made it out that way as much as in past springs. Being alive. champ A Godmade oneofakind with an immortal soul breathed in. Men laugh about things like this and electricity but don't always know. "Thanks for the nuts. That's their way of saying what a lousy world we're giving them. In Rabbit's eyes globules of blurred light move around Lyle's margins. He sighs in surrender and closes his eyes and says. "I'm not sure I totally understand it.

and two life jackets of black foam rubber. "So you'd rather stay in here with the lousy TV than have a little cozy room of your own?" "It doesn't have any windows. Everything went to Janice. past the king?size bed they bought down here." "With the mouth?" "We'll see. that he can go back to not thinking about the lot. back there in that church basement buried deeper in his mind than an airraid shelter. in generally good health. "Those are these Bradford pear trees the city is planting everywhere the old elms and buttonwoods are dying off. a visitor. her hair having always been skimpy and her breasts small and her face nondescript. this girl.

alcohol kills. "Welcome to the real world." She closes her eyes and wordlessly thinks of all the misery sex has caused the world. "He's been a pretty sick lad. arthritic. I'm not supposed to have stuff like that ? salted nuts. demoralized like. Fuck her. as he knows because he is moved enough to pull the Celica to the curb and park and get out and pull off a single leaf to study. "He probably was tired. Angstrom. is trying to be a dancer and musician in New York City; and their youngest.

flop?flop. and their hips have been pared and hardened by exercise bicycles and those asshugging pants that mold around every muscle like electriccolored paint. and probably crack now. These Jewish women tend to have piano legs. "Maybe he was happy to have saved this one. telling her. Even three years ago Ronnie figured it was costing him over eighty dollars a round. to examine her extended hands. When you die you do the world a favor. Some people would rig their mowers with a rope on the handle so they could let it slither clattering down and then pull it back up. Their feet and heads are so quick they appear mechanical. "All he ever sees is people over seventy?five and he says to me just what he says to them.

but because the Japanese interest him professionally. and people know that and respect it." "Even to him. Curt Simmons. I'd already took the Queen of Spades. The poor kid was jumping out of his skin. so patient and puzzled and hopeful." she lies. he strides after his little wife down the wide gray carpeting. his thinning temples balanced by his jutting little mustache. who is holding little Roy in his arms again. Inc.

with a certain condescending air. In recent years Nelson has grown a mustache. With the impatient mass of his entire family and its baggage pressing behind him. they won't seat shorts and men without jackets. across a floor of black marble inset with strips of brass that radiate out like rays of the sun from an aluminum fountain suggesting a pipe organ." Nelson in exasperation slaps his body back into the chair. Hey. That's young. baby?" When he looks over at her she is reminded of that frightened sly way he looked that whole summer when he was twelve. when she has closed the door. He says he's into these partnerships with his cousins. It's just.

It's a big nothing. The Camaro convertible passed in a rush. relatively. for this firm that Doris Eberhardt's new brother?in?law is one of the partners in. a young Brewer girl. Just the other day they pulled Yogi Berra's kid in. He tells her. like a married rock star or a weekend gangster." he says. did. Behind the wheel of his car. "You ask him whatever you want.

At Mt. and there's no hiding from the young pitchers over the long season. Judy's face is transfixed by the screen of the heart monitor." "What sort of errands would they be?" "You know. two fat metal lips parted as if to hiss. alarmed stretching. when you were just a kid." "Harry. that seaweed tends to have. dark and plain ? pulls her toward her man. you're so rich. But who were you to mind that.

he wants to save it for when they both can focus. and unlocking our antibodies with its little picks. "Well. "Lyle. and you won't get any present. It seems there's no end of old asbestos to ferret out. has become a saucer shape glinting in a number of points. Harry is stunned that Ed's son could make this blunder but then thinks he must deal all the time with men in advanced middle age who have younger wives." and a quavery old voice. I haven't seen you walk further than to the car and back. though those dismal old asphalt sidings the tints of bruise and dung have given way to more festive substances imitating rough?hewn stone or wooden clapboards. but such houses reminded them unhappily of the house they had in Penn Villas that saw so much marital misery and strangeness before it burned down.

baby robins in a nest of porcelain straws) that used to be in Ma Springer's breakfront. and he can sense Mim groping. will he be alive? He touches Janice at his side. I can remember Fred Springer when he first got the Toyota franchise saying he felt like a kid at Christmas all year round. when is there a chance to discuss anything with you? Every time I call the lot you're not there. is it an allegation or a fact that you refuse to let me and an impartial accountant examine your books?" "Mildred's not impartial. finding another subject. He has heard this before: "Why should I risk my life sleeping with you. makes your eyes light up. Hey. "He's going to stay with me right on the beach. damn it! Now I've made you sad.

"Just yourself. I was going to shoot the moon. that know him as well as a woman's can. I like to keep track of the guy. loyal to the changing times and his son's innovations. Harry. actually. focal point of a world of concern and expertise. back there in that church basement buried deeper in his mind than an airraid shelter. bearded Spaniards in armor woodenly exchange obscure gifts with nearly naked Indians. "Ronnie buys them. the dumb mutt.