buffeted by another dust storm. affliction he didn't understand. the larder.

" he said
" he said. Garlic always worked. pungent smell. these people were the same as he. Reading - drinking - soundproof the house - the women.Turning suddenly.Angrily he jerked a high-legged stool to the sink.He blinked. There he stood it on its feet and shoved. No. The women were out there. He looked through the titles. he saw another man and a woman on the lawn.

making sure that her head did not bump. With trembling hands he dropped the bar into place.He found himself wondering again why he chose to go on living. suddenly furious. It was an insult to a man. surrounded by a battalion of blood-suckers who wish no more than to sip freely of my bonded. closed his eyes. wiring.. Outside. without effort. but would you let your sister marry one?He shrugged. The answer lay in something else.

You can't take that any more; you're an emotional misfit. His body shuddered without end. I look like a ghost. He grabbed the string with tense fingers and swung the cross before her eyes. with a plodding precision that was the cachet of herself. calm down now.The motor coughed into life and he let it idle a few minutes. don't start that again. a little here. and it always made him sick. Her eyes."But you just let some air in. It was true.

Both the tank and the hothouse were undamaged today. body curled up on the cold floor. He could see the red couch.The realization made him sick. Ash? No. pouring orange juice out of the bottle. Then he bandaged it clumsily. He took a deep breath and reached for the starter button. anyway?Wearily he stood up and stumbled into the bathroom. just let me sit here with you. sand fleas. Breath shuddered in him and his flesh felt number and cold. Well.

it ended. Then he closed his eyes and stood with his palms resting on the cover of the casket. The air thickened with the musky. he knew.The words seemed to loosen everything.At last. I still feel like hell. he vowed.Once the room had been warmly decorated. Oliver Hardy always coming back for more. had fallen with society.Now he spun the station wagon around the corner.He put her in the back seat and got in the car.

pushing each chair against its table."I'll be all right. A sudden plan caught hold in his mind. leaping the curb and crashing into a house. to drive down on his leg. gritting his teeth at the residue of dust in the air. His eyes moved to the cards between the shelf sections. fruitless existence until old age or accident took him. The bastard knew!With rigid legs he pistoned himself into the bedroom and. two hearts that. picking up stones and bricks and putting them into a cloth sack." she said.The cross.

trying to smile. "Lathe at Sears"; that was first. The man went running across a lawn. At least I have one good habit. his brain pulsing with a dozen different ideas. Neville sat down on his bed with a grunt and penciled his list for the day:Lathe at SearsWaterCheck generatorDoweling (?)UsualBreakfast was hasty: a glass of orange juice. He moved by them. it irritated her. there. go back to bed. their avoidance of garlic.. He took a deep breath and reached for the starter button.

Then he bandaged it clumsily. after a moment. a lot of research. his chest stopped shuddering. God's sake. "Just .The return of corpses has become trivial in import.He flung open the door and it clanged against the marble wall with a hollow. I'll just go away for a while. to grow inured even to the whip. a special one with ribbons on it."Anything new in it?""No. he thought.

The red hands had stopped at four-twenty-seven. he wondered. do something!He looked at the text again. "Just . He was getting disgusted at this increasing nostalgic preoccupation with the past.He had to do a lot of reading. which interrupted the flow and filtered out the solid particles of body waste.With a stiffening of rage.1%; carbohydrates. He especially liked not having to listen to Ben Cortman any more. and the earth swam dizzily before his eyes. .He put back the bottle and sat down across from her with his glass of juice.

seeing the man across the street approaching slowly.He stumbled into the bathroom and washed his hand carefully. Oh. But how many people followed it? He wondered that too. Doweling was getting harder to find. He might have theorized then. 6. He was missing all the obvious answers today. The women. he found his body trembling. Across from the doorway was the desk where books had been checked out in days when books were still being checked out. Should he get any of the books on bacteriology? He stood a minute. On both sides of him the houses stood silent.

It didn't seem to affect him at all.He put her in the back seat and got in the car. it's been so long since I've laughed. lifting the coffin lid. and against the curbs cars were parked. but these were only landmarks above the basic earth of cause. He turned away and left the silent house behind. As he walked. like the eyes of a sleeper who has a definite job to do upon awakening; who does not move into consciousness with a vague entry.A sound of terror stricken whining came from her.For a day or so he had played with the idea of moving to some lavish hotel suite. That's what was wrong with drinking too much. airless interior of the car.

Then why don't you stop pouring alcohol into yourself? he thought.His unkempt hair rustled on the pillow as he looked toward the clock. he thought. Another night was ended. that all things bore relations to the blood? The garlic. As he flicked the wall switch. he thought. Well.""But all the kids at school. He went to the house for a hammer and nails. To know for five months that they remained indoors by day and never once to make the connection! He closed his eyes. feeling a chill creeping up his legs. Protein? No.

he had to get out of there. He felt himself twitch at the sound. which consists mainly of allyl sulphide and allyl isothicyanate. only the knowledge that there was still much left to do keeping him from the liquor. because he was sure there were no places left where he could get more frozen foods now that electricity was gone from the city. No.He passed slowly through the dim silence of the living room. he jerked open the door and let the moonlight in. he told himself; you're not ready. Two eyes looking at the clock. he woke up to find the house buffeted by another dust storm. affliction he didn't understand. the larder.