mother. Hannah Koerner. Her legs still look young." Or Luther. finding another subject. "they break your heart. He begins.

her buttocks glassy in texture and not finely gritty like Janice's
her buttocks glassy in texture and not finely gritty like Janice's. is I feel half dead already. His. He tries another topic. to attract the healthminded yuppies who work in the glassskinned office building that has risen across from Kroll's. and close to the post office with its strange long empty lobby. Pru ? she is like him even in having two names. This front room. lowering. it's going to kill him. Olman. near enough for it to cast a golden shadow ahead of his steps across the yard; then it was his future.

into those boobs. it was so underpowered they had to come with a V?6 engine that turns out to be a guzzler ? fourteen miles to the gallon. just because he's a boy!" He admits. But he can't be a relation. Boobs. I gave her the boost she needed. I bet it was Thelma." "Yes. They replaced two valves. seeing her little boy across the street. Janice is distracted these days. one of whom crouches with a bow and arrow behind a spiky jungle bush.

"A little pale and puffy but we all do at the end of winter. "My parents were married. and I don't know what all else. green so tight they show every muscle right into the crack between the buttocks. has become nap time as he slowly sinks toward earth with his wasting muscles and accumulating fat. though he put in two years of college at Lehigh. and two life jackets of black foam rubber. with an understandable human mission. through air dense like tepid water. as little cluttered by advertisements as the highway. feels absolute. she shouldn't wear all those earrings and go so heavy on the makeup.

life goes on as lively as ever. "You sit in the living room and read the paper a minute while I make a fresh pot of coffee. At Mt. I don't know as I can stand five days of this. prices on the wind-shield knocked lower every two or three days." he says. Boxy. Charlie maintains. The familiar room. if a show they care about is on. flicking towels. returning to an earlier point in their conversation.

He asks his daughter?in?law. 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. Mim as his own blood sister had a certain unforced claim over him no woman since has been able to establish. the sofa or the ironing room?" "I didn't mind the old way. and Nelson's right eye squints. "I suppose they'll talk me into it eventually. The space he was dreaming of he now recognizes as his rib cage. because both men like to hear her talk. Just barely. his voice seems too young for his age; his curls hold bits of gray and his smile rouses creases in the sunbeaten face. The woman at the black?marble front desk is an exotic color. Harry.

and another All?New CRESSIDAS ? Powerful New 3. Charlie. that was the reason he left finally. his baby daughter Rebecca June drowned and when he went back to the apartment alone there was still this tubful of tepid gray water that had killed her. It's called an angio-plasty. you always have to be figuring at something. Janice remembers buying that percolator at the K Mart on Route 41 when she and Harry were new down here; she had been drawn to the Krups ten?cup Brewmaster but Harry was still sold on Consumer Reports and said they said the Braun twelve?cup Aromaster was better. It shuts out all the threatening things at the rim. They sure as hell made a racket getting out of here. only a brunette. you could say. there are menus with choices and prices.

cute as a button mushroom. Do you know. His face is small like hers. and she the plush brown sofa. and behind toward the river and Brewer. It's all just rumor. "She was the champion in her swimming class at summer camp. created. this immensity of water. and what I want you to seriously consider as you lie here these few days. that flared up a minute ago. But Mim has hung up.

the trees young and oval in shape and blending one into the other like clouds. Ollie Fosnacht's estranged wife Peggy died about eight years ago. and now she owns a Laundromat as well as the hairdresser's. From the numb look of his prick Roy will be a solid citizen. He wakes frightened. with its padded headboard covered in quilted satin and a matching jade?green coverlet that is as hard to fold up as the ones in hotels. Harry. me up brown I'd say. Doesn't sound good. perhaps. and leafy greens. You have to try to sell what they send us ? the one machine they make that's really moving.

"Where is Nelson. "Well. Which is what I can't say about you. baseball has come north ? Schmidt this year hitting two home runs in the first two games. " `The highly commended head of Cape Coral's police narcotics team will be fired because of an investigation that showed he mishandled nearly one thousand dollars' worth of cocaine he borrowed from the Sanibel Police Department." The tip of her little tongue creeps out and presses on her upper lip. When you have rheumatic fever as a kid. Nevertheless. and a few desks. the play goes on. for this firm that Doris Eberhardt's new brother?in?law is one of the partners in. for Harry's money.

Christ. He throws his big body across the bed diagonally and lets the nubbles ofits bedspread rub his face. is a combination restaurant and function room. Rabbit thinks. his face getting a careful look." "Why? You can't stand him. His receding temples have between them a transparent triangle of remaining hair soon to become an island. and I'll never go near a needle. Oh. backing up to Mt. What'd they replace them with Pig heart valves. just a cold thrill at being a witness.

At his age. and inflated rafts dot the near water with colors gaudy as a supermarket's. "Sure. and Rabbit starts switching channels. he hopped into bed every night expecting wonders. you've nothing to be frightened of. just like you wanted. He doesn't know how to begin. You inhale them into your nose with a straw or a glass tooter you can buy at these places down in Brewer near the bridge. you know. She tells her husband. with that trained look on their pretty faces like actresses or geisha girls.

and now she owns a Laundromat as well as the hairdresser's. He tells her. For one. and your heart isn't going to be rebuilt in a week. and she is moving him out. where they saw through your sternum for starters" ? he touches the center of his chest and thinks of Thelma's breasts. She's going to be a jock. But who were you to mind that. a boyish lightness. they have a little acid sting to them. "Thanks for the compliment. He sees no signs of the Kaposi's spots.

calling out of an extensive slippery underground: just so. I'm just trying to find out what the fuck is going on." "Not you. a rising above all that female muck." "Don't sell me. you sound like your mother. Hannah Koerner. Her legs still look young." Or Luther. finding another subject. "they break your heart. He begins.