until he began to slow down. with damn close to a brand?new heart. Fifteen. "And what did Lyle say then?" "He said we shall see.

you wouldn't want to defend in court
you wouldn't want to defend in court. I promise. The things they can do with Xerox now. So it costs a few pennies. People who've made it like she has. The sea. the hospital. "And cashews. His heart had felt numb and swollen above the sidewalk squares like one of those zeppelins you used to see in the sky. since she seemed to feel guiltier and less free with herself in a real bed.

I crashed because my father suddenly near?died and it's damn depressing. The ceiling is a skylight for part of its breadth. Why don't you like me to make you happy? Why have you always fought it?" "I haven't." on another. he was my partner!" Serenely she says. whoever. Too big. legal?medical ? that line the boulevards of this state dedicated to the old. Harry. the spaces are long and low and lined in tasteful felt gray like that cocky stewardess's cap and filled with the kind of music you become aware of only when the elevator stops or when the dentist stops drilling.

You stopped. I did not give myself a name. She never really figured out how the world is put together but she's still working at it. At least she hasn't so far that I know of. She won't give up. and which arrows painted on the floor to follow out of the parking garage." "The papers exaggerate. a Planter's Peanutbrittle bar for forty?five cents. "How else're you supposed to take it? Like a big joke. these young paperpushers.

and that hasn't been happening in the statements since November. Charlie used to be thickset but age has whittled him so his Greek bones show the high pinched arch to his nose. What women go through. Nelson seems to him strangely precise and indignant and agitated. it doesn't begin to compete with the Cherokee. To have it unhappen. When they put the dye in." It seems if you're a fag you have to exaggerate everything. Mutilation. that's considered cool.

She had tangled with the curse and survived. its Florida tan dulling. He used to wait by his window for a glimpse in the soft evening of Carolyn undressing for bed. Also out of sight." "Yeah? Join the crowd. This guy's even worse off than 1 am. and we went over to the lot and this Lyle who was so mean to you wasn't there but I was able to reach him over the phone at his home number. They can bypass anything. had the real taste of it in my mouth. She's mad at something.

slopes planted more and more no longer in lawn but ground cover like ivy or juniper that you don't have to mow once a week with those old?fashioned reel mowers. The used sales are down." "Did you have any this morning? Before you came out ofyour bedroom to face me?" "Hey. looks over at Charlie. And then a soda at the Pensupreme. He used to fuck Jill that crazy summer. You heard her. Nelson. cardiac. or how many seconds it all took.

I don't want to eat any junk. revealing string straps and white wide shoulders mottled with pale freckles." Rabbit says. who has to sign them in ? Harry and Nelson sit each with a beer at the round glass table and try to be friends. And wouldn't you like to split that stale Danish with me? Just to keep it out ofyour father's stomach?" "You can have it all." "What else could Lyle have been hiding today? Now they'll have the wind up so we should start moving or they'll shred everything like Ollie North. its thousand real?estate angles and prettifications of the flimsy. baby robins in a nest of porcelain straws) that used to be in Ma Springer's breakfront. A maze of secrets. we've never been exactly set up for a lot of happiness.

There has been a lot of death in the newspapers lately. He leads his little party into the vast air?conditioned space. Then afterwards they put a sandbag on the incision down at my thigh and told me not to move my leg for six hours or I'd bleed to death." Pru's mouth when she gets angry tenses up so the upper lip stiffens in vertical wrinkles almost like a mustache. There has been a lot of death in the newspapers lately. and then yesterday we had more chances to talk. It takes money. The runway tapering to a triangle. he would lie on this bed. here in the bewildering brightness.

From the numb look of his prick Roy will be a solid citizen. When he swallows. the first spring day that's felt really warm. and tough to mop up." Harry argues. He sips his beer. in a ball of red flame shadowed in black like you see on TV all the time. boy. showing with her hands. When I came back this spring.

"Nothing really. Well O." "I seem to remember you like dry?roasted. it's going to kill him. a closet door to the left and on the right see?through shelves of stained wood Janice has loaded with birds and flowers she made out of shells in a class she took that first year down here. like Nelson's. Mom. they put out the lowest?maintenance machines on the road. kindled by the slow sunset. I hid behind the curtain and let him just stand there until he got exhausted and rode away.

it is so dry and twangy." Janice finds this rude. he laughs to himself in the living room. The borrowed cocaine is missing. of wise decisions to end it and thrilling abject collapses back into sex. "I think I should talk to Nelson first. you're so rich. I'm unemployable. The game flickering in the fog. Roy is already gouging at the sand with a plastic shovel Janice thought to buy him at Winn Dixie.

and then it got out of hand?" "So it just about killed him? What a thought. It broke me all up." Harry begs. Jesus. "Crack's just coke that's been freebased for you ? little pebbles." Thelma tells him. until he began to slow down. with damn close to a brand?new heart. Fifteen. "And what did Lyle say then?" "He said we shall see.