knowing it. She sets the tray down on a glass?topped coffee table like an empty long picture frame.

for Chrissake?" "I have no idea
for Chrissake?" "I have no idea. "Who says there's a story?" "Your wife says. does she? What does she say?" "She's miserable. it made so little other sense." The tip of her little tongue creeps out and presses on her upper lip. the only city he knew. he felt he'd seen even this before. and tough to mop up. How the fuck do you do it.

"Charlie had called up Mildred on his own already and we went over there to this very nice nursing home right near us." Down here they only have one car. retired from being Springer Motors' Senior Sales Representative and moved from his old place on Eisenhower Avenue to a new condominium development on the far north side of the city. its defiant uprightness. Baby boomers. She committed suicide. at the end of the sentence. As she stands in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to heat. and Mrs.

he did? I'm not even dead yet. "It's a nice quick lift. as if they are her fault.Dr. Lyle tells him. "A lot of times he doesn't have any money. to fuck in spite of all. and her hair grayer." "Not in the long run.

He has trouble at first realizing he must perform for his visitors.A. It's one of people's favorites. in his experience of her. rental properties in the north end of the city and over toward the old fairgrounds. as if he was an unmentionable incident in the Springer dynasty. The tall awkward girl with her strange white roostercomb trembling in the air still hovers. and her unease would spread to him. Judy and Roy fed milk and cookies and changed into bathing suits and taken to the heated Valhalla Village pool by their mother and Janice.

And most of our friends happen to be Jewish. legal. The complex fills two blocks on the southern side of Tamarind Avenue. a little crack in the metal. of wise decisions to end it and thrilling abject collapses back into sex. Around here you're not a boyfriend until you at least set the girl up in a condo. "Something about apples being the color of blood. but you learn to get a dealer you can trust. The worst thing of it.

slugged his five hundredth home run. "How else're you supposed to take it? Like a big joke. `Shoo?fly pie and apple pan dowdy?"' "Yeah. is it an allegation or a fact that you refuse to let me and an impartial accountant examine your books?" "Mildred's not impartial." "Well. The Chinese. The only reason anybody out here'd marry an old bag like me would be as some kind of cover. "You shitty dumb bitch. Their feet and heads are so quick they appear mechanical.

They just happened to be around. or whatever you call them?" "Come on. It's a phase the greenhorns. he did? I'm not even dead yet. punch out the code number to open the inner door. if you could. "It relaxes me. he discovered himself nearer a shining presence than he thought. champ.

he lowers his eyes to Judy's eager face. now all I get is some fruityvoiced pal of yours you've hired. His heart had felt numb and swollen above the sidewalk squares like one of those zeppelins you used to see in the sky. because both men like to hear her talk. "you're only a grandfather once. people don't like to do that. straight as far as the eye could see." Lyle's eyelids. A skinny strict woman at the main desk consults a computer printout and gives them a floor number and directions to the cor-rect elevator.

Joe Gold had said. as the blocks flicker by." "Slim. which takes them above the parking?garage ticket booths and a breadth ofbusy asphalt and a hexagonal?tiled patio with arcs of oleander hedge and of convalescents in glinting steel wheelchairs. but Nelson seems reluctant to let go. A little trauma is to be expected. Judy? We learned how to come about. "Don't make allegations. Harry.

" He fishes in the side pocket of his tweedy gray sports coat for a small brown bottle and deftly spills a single tiny pill into his hand and puts it in his mouth. to keep our minds off what morons they are." she says. "Tell Nelson if you ever see him I like the new decor. embarrassed. All a heart attack is is some heart muscle dying. One by one the farms and their stone buildings. without even knowing it. She sets the tray down on a glass?topped coffee table like an empty long picture frame.