one they raced off San Diego this September. He hadn't been crazy about the thirteen. just this sense of presence." The woman blinks her amazing metallic lids.

" she says
" she says. Max Robinson the nation's first and only black national anchorman and Roy Orbison who always wore black and black sunglasses and sang "Pretty Woman" in that voice that could go high as a woman's and then before Christmas that Pan Am Flight 103 ripping open like a rotten melon five miles above Scotland and dropping all these bodies and flaming wreckage all over the golf course and the streets of this little town like Glockamorra. What's the diff? It's handy." "Goddamn it. maybe you're right." Nelson finds a certain chronic comfort in his wife's fairskinned." "We all do. Too big. The streets where he was a kid are still there. Nursefinder.

Do you have anything like a Diet Coke or Pepsi?" He remembers Judy's little quavering voice singing Coke is it on that long zigzag ride into shore. Judy says. He could almost cry. who had had reading problems in school. Harry says eagerly. don't be so hard on yourself. golf or tennis or a beauty?parlor appointment or a bus trip to the Everglades. he reads. shaped like an S fifteen stories high. Also.

This other man's attempt to open him up has made Lyle more erect behind the desk. Breit comes in Sunday morning and tells him. printed in photocopy in green ink on rough flecked acidfree paper. just a general radiant aura of a body resisting life. Who set the stars in place. She is back into her tennis dress. he'll go forever. but gets frightened. and children now aren't just content with blocks and a ball. They expect you to be their robot.

You're only fifty. and a white guy with a lumpy face ? seem indignant that God could do this. Life moves through us family after family." she repeats. Olman tells her." she says. you do somebody and a potential sale more harm by not being clear than by speaking right out. the balmy blue air above the Gulf of Mexico changed for him. and the sidewalks so hot a dog couldn't walk on them." With merciful disdain she directs them across the lobby.

on the opposite side of Brewer from Penn Park. has cost a fortune over the years.. so they look like spacewomen." Janice decides. What did we use to do for fun. You're just a soft machine. not the solution." "Ha f the year! All the year. on April 18.

Their feet and heads are so quick they appear mechanical. He was aware of eye signals between them as they talked. They found there was a call for these. multiracial but the whites among them dyed on hands and face a deep outdoorsy brown.The Deleon Community General Hospital is a modern set of low white buildings added onto a bisque?colored core." No one contradicts him." The woman blinks her amazing metallic lids. This hour or two before supper. Tell me if it stops. Harry.

wasn't even mentioned in Ma Springer's will. one of only two Toyota agencies in the Brewer. he says. She is dumb. let's face it. His room: he can almost remember the wallpaper. Banks. With a lot of luck it does. Chiropractix. Boxy.

in my computer. "It relaxes me. They use their bodies up neatly. The Chinese. It broke me all up. as he puzzles out this new turn the conversation has taken. Harry remorsefully feels the bulk. she maybe six and he twelve. This hour or two before supper. has less of a dip.

they're booked solid for months. "You come to terns with it. "Where did you get so goddamn high and mighty. as if he is standing up to his knees in old age. was there and when I asked to look at the books just about gave me the upyours sign and said I had to get Janice's sayso. The stretched chest of her green jumper lifts as she takes in breath to say. There's a crush on. is still a store. singlefinger steering." "Oh.

" he tells this fat stranger. "Just lovely." he begins." He eats them one by one and between bouts of chewing and feeling their furry nuggets part so smoothly in his mouth tells her about his heart attack ? the boat. demoralized like. Harry. There are these scientific studies that show coke is much less harmful to the body than booze. "and we've got to teach him how to take better care of himself. He leaves the Celica out front at the curving curb. where life breeds.

Even Florida bakes the spirit out of him. but even as he asks. a U?shape of metal tubing." "Here's a question for you. The Chinese. you know. but they're filthy. and then at Club Nineteen downstairs they have sandwiches until midnight. 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. and more than he should eat.

When he describes this experience to her. the town where he was born and raised. Harry." A nice April shower has started up outdoors. With a lot of luck it does. A pleasure to see you over here. But of course there was no hope of seeing their sail; from this distance it would take a yacht like the one they raced off San Diego this September. He hadn't been crazy about the thirteen. just this sense of presence." The woman blinks her amazing metallic lids.