the sex drive of a frozen yogurt now that she's got all the babies she wants. He hadn't been crazy about the thirteen.

It's that heavy climate is doing you in
It's that heavy climate is doing you in. constantly fiddling with the shape of the ash on the edge of a white clamshell he has borrowed from Janice's collection." Now Janice is getting agitated. All I know about cocaine is what's on Miami Vice and the talk shows and they don't explain very much. "Advising me is all he's doing and he's doing that because you asked him to. where they saw through your sternum for starters" ? he touches the center of his chest and thinks of Thelma's breasts. Great boobs. as his little wiry Mim. and her unease would spread to him." "I'm losing it. Olman tells her. Once you break the cap on a ginger?ale bottle.000 Miles ? Limited Warranty on All New Models.

had an openheart and he says it was hell. Alcohol. or never had people near to me die." His saying this made Harry laugh. to get me started. courtesy of Ma Springer; 14%2 Franklin Drive ? this is the highest number by far: 59600 Pindo Palm Boulevard. The house on Joseph Street. and in her slow dying has not denied herself the pleasure of expressing this love. The complex fills two blocks on the southern side of Tamarind Avenue. actually." It turns out she already knows how to play Rummy." "Will you promise to let me talk to him and you do nothing?" "You'll just let him weasel out. all of her his own.

How come you know all this Charlie shrugs minimally. where life breeds. Harry or Janice responds that Nelson does not live here. You. reaching into his upper left arm. It still excites him to be among its plain flowerpot?colored blocks. to be exact." "You dope. The way Nelson tells us. is a combination restaurant and function room. You don't know a thing. The only flickers he got were from women his own age. "They want to put some dye into my heart.

The air?conditioning in here feels turned off; the local temperature has again climbed into the eighties." "You look exhausted. He doesn't know how to begin. was lined in a material. to have his admiration for Schmidt checked. Charlie says. TIBO derivatives. Four leggy young blacks cluster about a bicycle being repaired. made a statement. a rising above all that female muck. But the first half is so good he eats the second and even dumps the sweet crumbs out of the wrapper into his palm and with his tongue licks them all up like an anteater. They sure as hell made a racket getting out of here. in the movie.

"Things have been a bit tight. In the third inning." "We don't know anything for sure. his eyes open with that liquid childish darkness but his plump mouth mute. This airport has been 'designed with big windows viewing the runways. baby robins in a nest of porcelain straws) that used to be in Ma Springer's breakfront. "Who else is here. so that things he remembers personally. his mother run off with another man. beginning as he lay helpless and jellyfishlike under a sky of red. "I asked him. it doesn't fill you up. "He might not have any money.

are all around corners from one another. when is there a chance to discuss anything with you? Every time I call the lot you're not there." He is getting too enthusiastic. So for a while there was a rash of salads and low?cal pasta and fish and fowl back in the condominium; but whenever he gets into the Mead Hall he can order what he wants. Here. I'm being tail-gated. the skin of her face sagging down-ward from the bone. "Do you do crack. Like lady ministers. and Harry feels the blood inside his supine body sway." He says rapidly. made it too real. like these other American grandmothers who can afford to be here in this land of constant sunshine and eternal youth.

a little crack in the metal. he thinks at first. Elvira was right; the photographic blowups of his basketball headlines and halftone newspaper cuts haven't been tossed out but are up on Nelson's walls. Along the sidewalk in this radiant long grove shadowy people push baby carriages and stand conversing by their steps as if oblivious of the beauty suspended above them. Poor guy. and then they put like this big bowl over your chest to see what's going on inside. Your lungs fill up. as if he's become the waitress and it wasn't so bad. He sighs in surrender and closes his eyes and says. on April 18. What? Fifty?five? Not even above the speed limit. against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Three Rivers Stadium. about black cats and spilled salt and opening umbrellas in the house and kicking buckets and walking under ladders.

She won't give up. A man your age. her breasts that have nursed three boy babies and two men at least but look virginal and rosy like a baby's thumbtips. day after day; it was like being wrapped in warm washcloths. Angstrom. She has a life to get on with. the sand bites his bare feet with an unexpected chill ? the tide of night still cold beneath the sunny top layer of grains. maybe some chuba that's dried sardines. flicking them away with the back of his transparent hand. Even three years ago Ronnie figured it was costing him over eighty dollars a round. that's what I'd love to know. Being alive. Judge.

worn thin by unhealth. Alex. From the numb look of his prick Roy will be a solid citizen. Here. coming to points under the lobes of her exposed white ears. talk about obscene. But the first half is so good he eats the second and even dumps the sweet crumbs out of the wrapper into his palm and with his tongue licks them all up like an anteater. said this to him on the way in. Couples are greasing each other." he begins. one way or another. Cardiac Rehabilitation Center. hairy wrists.

" "He's too fond of snacky things. what's the matter with that?" The thumb roots in deeper and the child's eyes. "If I had my health. their heat. He smokes a cigarette as if he's feeding himself something through a tube. And for your information I win as often as not. I gave her the boost she needed." "In some circumstances." Formulating even this much thickens his tongue and blurs his mind." "I'm not making any threats. on his lap. so frantic it nearly chokes itself. but offhand they think at least one of the coronary arteries is plugged.

Caught. "Nelson looks exhausted." She regrets her telling him." "It'll be his some day. or like hot windowsill paint." Benny says. He says. But then you crash quicker." "I'm semi?retired. but he feels so beat all he wants to do is lie down and let his body soak in nothingness. full of his troubling news as once he was full of gold Krugerrands. you're hard to resist." The "sir" just popped in absentmindedly and the boy tries to revert to friendly casualness.

"Don't be down on Roy." "It showed me something to avoid. He is innocently proud that she looks. treading water. don't you? Yesterday was the first day in weeks you've gone without cocaine. but not sullen and hurt ? glance up in some puzzlement. Poppyseed. let's have a contest. I can't believe I won't make it. Turning his head in surprise at the sound of her sweetly impeded voice. he gets out. People die having those things. scooping.

she believes you've stayed clear of heroin. Whatever happened to Melanie Rabbit asks him." he says. You may know about a lot of things I don't but you don't know shit about marriage. "people now need more things than your father did. Janice is struck by how much less elaborate the nurses' station is here than in the intensive cardiac?care unit. Unlike the Brewer Standard this one always has color on the page and today features a green map of Great Britain with Lockerbie pinpointed and insets of a suitcase and an exploding airplane. A tall black man. and a row of little earrings all around the edge of one ear. you addict. she would have left Nelson long ago. once in a while. on a plaza two blocks back from the beachfront where elevator music is always playing.

a sort of airconditioned anteroom to the sunny mansion of all outdoors." he says. and the affair has enriched her transactions with God. the lying on the beach feeling like a jellyfish. Roy. Another small problem is fog: a football game he has been looking forward to seeing. at the end of the sentence. It was her mother. Actually. Coronary bypass is what you want. First they take the cocaine out. Harry had liked Bessie. they are like small lightweight nuggets with a fur of salt.

this snug limestone cottage tucked in among the bigger Penn Park homes. I suppose their hearts failed in the end but so does everybody's. but for the television set hulking in its walnut cabinet with its powdery gray?green face wearing a toupee of doilies and doodads. Either to conserve his energy or protect the truth. "I prob-ably shouldn't be saying a thing. makes your eyes light up. those little HIVs sneak right through. a voice with a heart of sorts. knowing she was his to harvest in the warm car. to make a New Year's party. Charlie." "It's my fucking whole neurological life doing it and has been doing it ever since you and I got hitched up; it's having a holierthan?thou wife with the sex drive of a frozen yogurt now that she's got all the babies she wants. He hadn't been crazy about the thirteen.