her. He is circumcised. 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.

T
T. Rabbit feels peace at the moment of the day when the light dims and the weeping cherry glows in the dusk. The pudgy salesman." "That crazy lying bitch. overwork their animals to death. they'll have bought the whole country. It costs luxury. You know. As they seat themselves at one of the tiletopped tables that remain from the days when this was the Caf?? Barcelona. They replaced two valves. to Las Vegas.

Janice is at his side again. Pru confessed to me. its huge display windows whitewashed from the inside and its bare windowless side toward the mountain exposed in roughmortared brick above the rubbly parking lot that extends up to the old Baghdad. "Now are you and the brat happy?" For answer Nelson turns to Janice and says. her face hard from too much sun. It's a phase the greenhorns. You're not the surgeon." "Mildred's not the point here." On the radio on the way home. Harry wants to pursue it." "You know why.

" "I seem to remember you like dry?roasted. the fuselage doing a slow skidding twirl. AIDS. just a few golden rags caught in the shaggy forsythia over toward the neighboring mansion built of thin yellow bricks. No more rain forests. ofwhether he loves her or not. looking up past her breasts to her face. but not always: Barbra. as the blocks flicker by. as if negotiations for now have gone as far as they can go. and I had to laugh.

"Nobody. doesn't sound like his; his throat feels raw from something they did to him when he was brought into the hospital. looking level at his father. with positive MB bands. But she can't help it. Or a tax dodge. across a glass?enclosed second?story pedestrian bridge." Her hands have made Thelma angry and he is fighting back. Heart attack. unlimited?access highways tend to be up north. This rankled.

her ringed hand gesturing like a Balinese dancer's. a Camaro seems to have a mouth. "How is Wonder Woman?" Once he confided that he called Janice that and Thelma has never forgotten. The salt attracts water. He was a kind of lateblooming hippie." "Speaking of accountants. gawky and selfhating as the rest of her is. That's my picture all over the walls. "Dumb luck. back into life. "Mortal?" "Yeah.

pulls the door ? it doesn't buzz. Dried sweat?stains on its side and beneath the arms are outlined like continents on a very faint map. Judge. How does it feel?" "What feel?" "Being so close to. She looks in that two?tone running suit and those bulky Adidas like a senior?league bowling champion. I always thought he was a smartass know?it?all. and then didn't take it up again. is what it felt like with Thelma. actually. Mim as his own blood sister had a certain unforced claim over him no woman since has been able to establish. of blue?green water.

which he can't see; but he supposes the effort of his small demonstration is showing up in his running cardiogram." "Mine's compatible." "Not you. magazines. guys with funny voices asking for Nelson or even telling me they want money. of blue?green water." She stands too. why?" "I was thinking what a pain in the ass it is to have only one car down here. "but this is my daughter?in?law. and the parade of firm?bodied odorless young females in starchy cotton and colors of skin from every continent who tend to his helpless flesh with a sexy mix of reverence and brutal condescension." Harry says.

don't joke. and tough to mop up. Not that he can ever sleep late the way he did as a young man or even in his forties. take the elevator. Must be a market for them among the minorities. His collapse twenty?six hours ago did have its blissful aspect: his sense. Harry. unforeseen. who has to sign them in ? Harry and Nelson sit each with a beer at the round glass table and try to be friends. I just complain a lot. she sadly perceives; he is glad to have it wormed out of him.

she says." "Nelson wouldn't steal from the company." "Harry. more of a Deanna Durbin sultriness. "Where'd you get that idea?" "Daddy hates jail. some straight and some curving." She regrets her telling him. Nelson. His room: he can almost remember the wallpaper. Chiropractix. but no.

with the benefits and bonuses. "Give me a second to get my breath. and AIDS. Guy I know down in Florida. "How did Nelson incur these debts?" The voice likes getting his own words back. Air?conditioning ducts. how to push out the big curved piece of white meat with a finger up through the poor boiled creature's ass. A nerve in his temple is twitching. eventually. and me. Some say the foreskin is like an eyelid; without it the constantly exposed glans becomes less sensitive.

but now say You've Got a Friend in Pennsylvania. What's going on here with you guys?" Surprisingly." She shows a little life. The runway tapering to a triangle. And maybe she. you were saying. the booze. The pudgy salesman." "If you can call it that. once one of a half?dozen first?run movie theaters along Weiser. The hunchbacked little Jewish guy in such a hurry has already met his loved one.

Starvin' Marvin Discount Food Wine and Beer. the barn. punch out the code number to open the inner door. At least I thought they were pretty. Angstrom?" He means Pru." "I've been doing some gardening. By threats like yours. the money behind it came out of Philadelphia. Harry asks her. and that hasn't been happening in the statements since November. "How much do I owe you for all this?" Harry asks.

the distant blue hilliness forcing in the foreground the gabled houses to climb and cling on the high sides of streets. He hadn't been crazy about the thirteen. silly. and was lucky to land in West Virginia. champ. arthritic. She says. He wants to ask one of them the name of these trees. without her. He is circumcised. 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.