least a year. of her fearing their end more than he. to shake the lightness in his head. the usual." she says.

" he says seriously
" he says seriously. Charlie's just an old friend. I said no but I wasn't sure Nelson was fit to consult with these days. He is flying back tomorrow afternoon." "Calls?" "Some man keeps calling him." That's right. He must lose some weight. how close I came. He feels that Thelma is looking at him in a new way ? clinically.

though it's a Camry station wagon that takes six comfortably; Nelson likes to do his own thing. "If Roy goes I'm not going. The Camaro convertible passed in a rush. though its shadow has shrunk back to the innermost of its pools. With a lot of luck it does. stirred up by seeing Thelma and Lyle. lowering." Judy says. Pru cuts his hair in a kind of inverted bowl?shape.

It's a funny experi-ence: it doesn't exactly hurt but you feel very funny. "So you're the one who wants to be a sailor girl. to help her out of it. a pit for tossing beer cans and soda bottles down into. into a toad or a steaming puddle. with the hand not holding her cards. one wop. Charlie's tone is level and authoritative. She settles firmly on the fold?out sofa next to the wicker armchair Nelson is in.

" A smiling provocative hovering in Lyle's expression goads Harry to ask. but in fact the gambling addicts were no classier than the types you see pulling at the one?armed bandits down in Atlantic City. His first days back. no matter how sick I feel. "There's been something bothering me. and his inherited sharp?chinned accountant's jaw has been softened by a mother's blood and a job of holiday facilitation He smiles. not at all. like one of those old?fashioned dolls that would say a little speech when you pulled a string that came out of their backs. It was broken in two somewhere in transit and he thinks of saving one half to offer his two grandchildren when they're all together in the car heading home.

and walk to your left. Toyota's been good to us and good to your grandfather and don't you forget it. which is ridiculous. "Get this. an image of his heart as an unwilling captive inside his chest." "You crashed because that chemical was out of your system for a change. Enthusiasm about shells doesn't last. Charlie used to be thickset but age has whittled him so his Greek bones show the high pinched arch to his nose. even a drop or two of saliva or cunt slime.

pointed black boots. as he lies on his back drugged and tied down by tubes and wires in what seems a horizonless field of white. Regional killings decrease in 1988. Charlie maintains. and you're a vegetable. and down a half-flight of stairs into a lobby where street?people. the Gulf. all these lives that are young and rising like sap where his is old and sinking. "So when are you coming east?" he asks Mim.

the traffic going home might be terrible what with the weather continuing so beachy." she too swiftly answers." Irritably he adds. Pru cuts his hair in a kind of inverted bowl?shape. gazing at her thoughtfully. Chief Sales Representative for over ten years. Nelson may have his weaknesses but her sense of him is that he has never been crazy about sex like his father ? that his generation got enough of it early enough for the magic to wear off." With merciful disdain she directs them across the lobby." "Yes.

I suppose their hearts failed in the end but so does everybody's. There his class. this immensity of water. I don't even know how you take it ? up the nose or smoke it or what you put it in to smoke it or any of that." Janice says. Sounds good. Men laugh about things like this and electricity but don't always know. because that's what life is. something with oxygen.

is a pure joy. That's news A couple of 'em. Would you like the last of those Danish we bought? If you don't your father will eat it. or maybe Rabbit imagines it."Strange phone calls have been coming through. Her prim. quelling the birdsong. For a woman it's power. She seems smaller.

If nobody minds. He smokes a cigarette as if he's feeding himself something through a tube. "About being mortal ? I suppose it affects different people different ways. you were in Florida. "At least a year. of her fearing their end more than he. to shake the lightness in his head. the usual." she says.