some work to do he would be able to forget. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. Go ahead and prepare your farm.

No matter how prosperous a man was
No matter how prosperous a man was."He does not know that either. We heard of it.At first Ikemefuna was very much afraid."We have heard both sides of the case. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl. but ill. they kept their imagination to themselves. gods of wood and stone. An evil forest was. What did they know about the man?" He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point."He gave his mother seven baskets of vegetables to cook and in the end there were only three. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time. When the will of the goddess had been done. My case is finished." said Uchendu to his peers when they consulted among themselves. It is good in these days when the younger generation consider themselves wiser than their sires to see a man doing things in the grand. the distance they had covered.As the years of exile passed one by one it seemed to him that his chi might now be making amends for the past disaster. She was called Crystal of Beauty. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. for as soon as the first rain came farming would begin.

He was a person dedicated to a god. and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. How could he know that his father had taken a hand in killing a daughter of Umuofia? All he knew was that a few men had arrived at their house. and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season."I have come to you for help. during the last harvest season. "We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. the Evil Forest was a fit home for such undesirable people. woman."That woman standing there is my wife. They had thrown down their water-pots and lain by the roadside expecting the sinister light to descend on them and kill them.'When Ekwefi brought the hoe." Nwoye's mother said. "Let us give them a portion of the Evil Forest. "Use the fan. Okonkwo and the boys worked in complete silence. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. The first thing he would do would be to rebuild his compound on a more magnificent scale. and in a basket beside her were green vegetables and beans." replied her mother. Not long after. I want you to be there.

and although ailing she seemed determined to live. A bowl of pounded yams can throw him in a wrestling match."Who is that?" he growled. Kiaga. his wives and children in their houses could hear him breathe. I am an old man and you are all children. woman. that is a boy's job." he had said.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. and it was their counsel that prevailed in the end.""I did not know that. He had a bad chi or personal god. He lelt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul." said Ezinma. the distance they had covered. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved. "The bell-man announced it last night. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames.That night he collected his most valuable belongings into head-loads. Then the metal gong sounded and the flute was blown."Father."When did you become a shivering old woman.

Her daughter was only ten years old but she was wiser than her years. They became ordinary human beings again. and sometimes two rainbows. He is an exile. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye. Then from the distance came the faint beating of the ekwe. They were not the real wrestlers. And so the two of them refused every offer of marriage in Mbanta. yellow and dark green. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. There were five groups." he said. and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back. That woman.""You sound as if you question the authority and the decision of the Oracle."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma."Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! ??" Chielo began once again to chant greetings to her god." he said. The story was told in Umuofia."Obiageli called her "Salt" because she said that she disliked water. He went into the obi and saluted his father. But it is your turn now. The priestess.

" lied Nwoye's mother." she began.Obierika's compound was as busy as an anthill. and the polite name for leprosy was "the white skin. The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home. But even in such cases they set their limit at seven market weeks or twenty-eight days. that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?"Okonkwo's first wife soon finished her cooking and set before their guests a big meal of pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup. He always gnashed his teeth as he listened to those who came to consult him. He played on the ogene. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. or the teeth of an old woman. and you can teach us the things of the new faith."He does not know that either. Even the greatest medicine men took shelter when he was near. It was called a string. He was the oldest man in Ire. Everyone knew then that she would live because her bond with the world of ogbanje had been broken. She rose. She cut the yams into small pieces and began to prepare a pottage. Soon it covered half the sky. gome. "that he repeated over and over again a word that resembled Mbaino. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomed the cannon at intervals.

""Have you heard. and since he now had three wives his guests would make a fairly big crowd.The priestess screamed.The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. Obierika pointed at the two heavy bags. Sometimes he turned round and chased after those men. his half-sister. It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt. When he brought out the snuff-bottle he tapped it a few times against his knee-cap before taking out some snuff on the palm of his left hand. And if the clan did not exact punishment for an offense against the great goddess. Then she suddenly turned round and began to walk back to the road."Go and bring me some cold water. Okonkwo!" she warned. "There must be a reason for it. but when they went away Okonkwo sat still for a very long time supporting his chin in his palms. "Your wife was at fault. He did not understand it. gazed at it a while and went away again??to the underworld. that night. blowing it with her breath.But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through. "What about you? Can you answer my question?"They all shook their heads." he said.

"Where is Ojiugo?" he asked his second wife. 'Then we can eat the chick. I kill a man on the day that his life is sweetest to him. Everybody in the crowd was talking. gome. They did not stay very long.But somehow Okonkwo could never become as enthusiastic over feasts as most people."You must watch the pot carefully.What moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter's son. Another one was wailing near his right ear. He did not know who the girl was. But his wives and young children were not as strong. with love." She died in her eleventh month. Obierika nodded in agreement. children. They were silent for a long time. only they did not understand him. Ojiugo. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum. They sat in a half-circle and began to talk of many things. but nothing like this had ever happened. and on her waist four or five rows of jigida.

His wives and children were very happy too. But it turned out to be even bigger than we expected. he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine. the priestess of Agbala. he has learned to fly without perching.The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly. like leprosy and smallpox. It throbbed in the air. They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal. "honest men and thieves.""In future call her into your obi. The women weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yams. should he."For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him. He had felt very anxious but did not show it. His death showed that the gods were still able to fight their own battles. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away?' 'It said nothing."A little more?? I said a little. ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights.

burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song." said an old man." said Okonkwo. He had cracked them himself. It was said that they had built a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect the followers of their religion. But a few years later she ran away from her husband and came to live with Okonkwo. and Umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ekwe began to talk. "You will bring to the shrine of Ani tomorrow one she-goat. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death." said Okonkwo."You must watch the pot carefully. drank a little and handed back the horn." And he told him what an osu was. would wipe them off the face of the earth. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool.On the third day he asked his second wife."Oye. another man asked a question: "Where is the white man's horse?" he asked. trembling. who must taste his wine before anyone else." said Okonkwo. he was terribly afraid. He had felt very anxious but did not show it.

he was at a loss. which should be a woman's crowning glory." said Okonkwo. Everybody had been invited??men. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. burning torches were set on wooden tripods and the young men raised a song. but the fattest of all was tethered to a peg near the wall of the compound and was as big as a small cow. the earth goddess and the source of all fertility.- they all fled in terror. Quick as the lightning of Amadiora. Then the crier gave his message. mother. Nwoye's sister."Ezinma looked at her mother. The woman was Mgbafo and the three men with her were her brothers. Okonkwo stood by. The white man has no sense. Now and then a cold shiver descended on his head and spread down his body. old way. That was not luck.' Why is that?"There was silence. Her voice was as clear as metal. a loud cheer rose from the crowd.

Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village.But there were many others who saw the situation differently.A strange and sudden weakness descended on Ekwefi as she stood gazing in the direction of the voices like a hen whose only chick has been carried away by a kite. 'You have taken back your sister. He looked it over and said it was done.""One of the men told me. She could hear the priestess' voice. and so did his little children. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland. which was rubbed with red earth so that it shone. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon."They want a piece of land to build their shrine. The imagery of an efulefu in the language of the clan was a man who sold his machete and wore the sheath to battle. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan. The women began to talk excitedly. As soon as he heard of the great feast in the sky his throat began to itch at the very thought.- they all fled in terror." Okonkwo thundered. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness. Okonkwo's wives and children and those who came to help them with the cooking began to bring out the food. It was also part of the night. and men dashed about in frenzy. and soon returned with a bowl of cool water from the earthen pot in her mother's hut.

They had the same style and one saw the other's plans beforehand." He then added ten sticks to the fifteen and gave the bundle to Ukegbu. now desperate. You stay at home. what do I do? Do i shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head That is what a man does. "He hardly ever walks. but he had not expected he would be so generous."The weeping was now quite close and soon the children filed in. forty-five. It was then uncertain whether the low rumbling of Amadiora's thunder came from above or below. became for Ekwefi mere physical agony devoid of promise. Every man and woman came out to see the white man. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. and at his death there were only three men in the whole clan who were older. he had not slept at all last night. father? You are beyond our knowledge. And then Nkechi came in. The same thought also came to Okonkwo's mind. She trudged slowly along.That was the kind of story that Nwoye loved." she replied. At such times she seemed beyond danger."Ogbuefi Ndulue of Ire village.

But you are still a child. The Lord shall have them in derision. Suppose when he died all his male children decided to follow Nwoye's steps and abandon their ancestors? Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospect.""Anyway. I salute you. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat.Obierika was sitting outside under the shade of an orange tree making thatches from leaves of the raffia-palm. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. but ill.Ekwefi knelt beside the sick child.His life had been ruled by a great passion??to become one of the lords of the clan. calling him "Our father. Their church stood on a circular clearing that looked like the open mouth of the Evil Forest. each brought her bowl of foo-foo and bowl of soup to her husband. That week they won a handful more converts. But by the end of the day the sisal rings were burned dry and gray." answered his first wife.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. and others who could think of nowhere else open to escape.' said Tortoise. "She must have broken her waterpot. Darkness held a vague terror for these people."Oho.

On Obierika's side were his two elder brothers and Maduka."He will do great things. She often called her Ezigbo. Anasi was the first wife and the others could not drink before her.""Oho.Okonkwo's family was astir like any other family in the neighborhood.But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through." replied Obierika."At that moment Obierika's son. they held them over an open fire to burn off the hair. to her right and to her left. They were grieved by the indignity and mourned for their neglected farms.Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. each carrying a pot of wine. in which he took a pinch of snuff and sneezed noisily.The New Yam Festival was thus an occasion for joy throughout Umuofia. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. and at the end of three years he had become very distant indeed. and his face beamed.He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. But at that very moment Chielo's voice rose again in her possessed chanting. trying to minimize Ojiugo's thoughtlessness. It was Ekwefl's turn to tell a story.

a long and thin strip of cloth wound round the waist like a belt and then passed between the legs to be fastened to the belt behind.Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household. and in its place a sort of smile hovered. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. I fear for you. He never stopped regretting that Ezinma was a girl. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim. and when he got home he went straight to Okonkwo's hut and told him what he had seen."Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" Okagbue had asked Ezinma. beans and cassava. passing back the disc."Five women stayed behind to look after the cooking-pots. The crowd had surrounded and swallowed up the drummers. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. and sat down. Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. He had sown four hundred seeds when the rains dried up and the heat returned." the convert maintained. There was a famine in those days and Tortoise had not eaten a good meal for two moons. lest he should be found to resemble his father."No. Mr.

Okonkwo."Then listen to me. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season. Nobody thought that such a thing could ever happen. He also took with him a pot of palm-wine. where titled men climb trees and pound foo-foo for their wives. Ezenwa took it. She only began to weep when they got near the iroko tree outside their compound." they said to the women. Many people laughed at his dialect and the way he used words strangely. But I think you ought to break it. There was no question of killing a missionary here. who was fat and whose body shone as if oil was rubbed on it??"She broke off because at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. which was passed under his right arm-pit and tied above his left shoulder."Okonkwo bit his lips as anger welled up within him. It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair. as most people were. And he had all but achieved it. She was used to Chielo calling her "my daughter. All was silent. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights.Although such stories were now often told they looked like fairy-tales in Mbanta and did not as yet affect the relationship between the new church and the clan.

I would not have believed." said one man." She went into the hut again and brought down the smoke-black basket in which she kept her dried fish and other ingredients for cooking soup. He walked unsteadily to the place where the corpse was laid. You stay at home. And they might also have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of egwugwu." he said. She was about sixteen and just ripe for marriage. women and children. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. passed through his obi and into Ekwefi's hut and walked into her bedroom. who was the oldest man in the village. spread her mat on the floor and built a fire. "They are pieces of wood and stone. Uchendu. years ago. saluted the spirits and began his story. The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say."Ekwefi did as she was asked. I shall do that every year until you return. You may have heard of the title I intend to take shortly. and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust."You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world? Do you know that men are sometimes banished for life? Do you know that men sometimes lose all their yams and even their children? I had six wives once.

" replied the white man. meanwhile. and the children who sang songs of welcome to them. I say it because I fear for the younger generation. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. and Ikemefuna. and old men and women would remember their youth. he had gone to consult the Oracle. She miscarried after she had gone to sleep with her lover. all the same. But they dared not complain openly. His younger wives did that. they say. Tortoise stood up in his many-colored plumage and thanked them for their invitation. The drums beat the unmistakable wrestling dance - quick.Ezeudu had been the oldest man in his village. Okonkwo. Their leader was called Evil Forest." replied Uzowulu. And so she brought out her husband's hoes. A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing. "I remember when I was a young boy there was a song about them. to her right and to her left.

If one says no to the other. You know his first wife who walks with a stick?""Yes. They all have food in their own homes. This was before the planting season began. His yams grew abundantly. Their wives also. another group with hoes and baskets to the village earth pit. A snake was never called by its name at night.After the death of Ekwefi's second child.Very soon after. The thick mat was thrown over both."He took down the pot from the fire and placed it in front of the stool. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. His greatest friend." Okonkwo threatened. but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders."Just then Obierika's son. But such was her anxiety for her daughter that she could not rid herself completely of her fear. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist. I salute you. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. Every man can see it in his own compound. who was once the village beauty.

He was a good eater and he could drink one or two fairly big gourds of palm-wine. for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor. It was as if water had been poured on the tightened skin of a drum. The interpreter explained each verse to the audience. They boast about victory over death. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him? Fortunately."He died this morning. "If you had been poor in your last life I would have asked you to be rich when you come again. And whenever the moon forsook evening and rose at cock-crow the nights were as black as charcoal."Did she ask you to feed them before she went?""Yes. in the sunshine. But at that very moment Chielo's voice rose again in her possessed chanting.As soon as day broke. Two years after her marriage to Anene she could bear it no longer and she ran away to Okonkwo. and brought out his snuff-bottle from the goatskin bag by his side. But there was no doubt that he liked the boy." said Obierika. One of these days your jigida will catch fire on your waist. he thought over the matter. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door."How can I know?" Ekwefi wanted her to work it out herself."He does not know that either.After the singing the interpreter spoke about the Son of God whose name was Jesu Kristi.

But the boy was afraid of him and slipped out of the hut as soon as he noticed him dozing."At that moment Obierika's son. scooped out two mouthfuls and fled from the hut to chew the cud in the goats' shed. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness." he had said. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. and so all the clan was at his funeral. "my eyelid is twitching."I have come to you for help."Is that enough?" she asked when she had poured in about half of the water in the bowl. In Umunso they do not bargain at all. As the rains became heavier the women planted maize. children sought for shelter. The first voice gets to Chukwu. The ancestral spirits of the clan were abroad. and allowed a murmur of suppressed anger to sweep the crowd. "I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wife and her family. and was full of the sap of life. one of those wicked children who. gazing into a log fire. "She must have broken her waterpot. He had finished it on the very day the locusts came. And this was the message.

At one stage Ekwefi was so afraid that she nearly called out to Chielo for companionship and human sympathy. Chielo. pushed back the bolt on his door and ran into Ekwefi's hut. But the third created a big sensation even among the elders who did not usually show their excitement so openly. She pulled again and it came off. took the lump of chalk. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits."I am Evil Forest. It was Ekwefl's turn to tell a story. He was tall and huge."At that moment Obierika's son. who was greatly perplexed. He exchanged greetings with Okonkwo and led the way into his obi."We cannot all rush out like that. It is like Dimaragana. may Agbala shave your head with a blunt razor! May he twist your neck until you see your heels!"Ekwefi stood rooted to the spot. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged. and.'"Parrot promised to deliver the message. She trudged slowly along." And they dispersed. in which he took a pinch of snuff and sneezed noisily.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births.

"As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head. and because of their ash-colored shorts they earned the additional name of Ashy Buttocks. with her suitor and his relatives. when his father had not been dead very long. Then he and another man went before Ikemefuna and set a faster pace. who will hold his head up among my people.Okonkwo's wives."Ask Akueke's mother to send us some kola nuts. Ikemefuna looked back. I married her with my money and my yams. It is like Dimaragana. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet.As soon as day broke. How old is she now?""She is about ten years old. The meat was then shared so that every member of the umunna had a portion. Why was that?"Okonkwo shook his head. "Your wrestling the other day gave me much happiness. But they dared not complain openly. Ikemefuna came into Okonkwo's household. If only he could find some work to do he would be able to forget. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. Go ahead and prepare your farm.

kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. At last Ogbuefi Ezeugo stood up in the midst of them and bellowed four times. I salute you. in their due proportions.As the men drank.

to harvest cassava tubers
to harvest cassava tubers. which the first wife alone could wear. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. Some of them were very violent. The next child was a girl. If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally. And then the locusts came. He still remembered the song:Eze elina. And then suddenly she had begun to shiver in the night." said Nwoye's mother. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky. or with their father in his obi warming themselves from a log fire. looking up from the yams she was peeling.At this point an old man said he had a question. '1 am a changed man."The market of Umuike is a wonderful place. was among them. the fear of the forest. It was in fact one of them who in his zeal brought the church into serious conflict with the clan a year later by killing the sacred python. Ogbuefi Ugonna had thought of the Feast in terms of eating and drinking. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast. A new cover of thick palm branches and palm leaves was set on the walls to protect them from the next rainy season. looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty??the new year.

you can tell a ripe corn by its look."You need some sleep yourself. He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. but he had been too surprised to weep. He had called the first child born to him in exile Nneka??"Mother is Supreme"??out of politeness to his mother's kinsmen. the men returned with a pot of wine." he always said. And so nobody gave serious thought to the stories about the white man's government or the consequences of killing the Christians. In Umuofia's latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. He was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. All the neighbors and relations who had come to mourn gathered round them. Okonkwo decided to go out hunting. Okonkwo was the greatest wrestler and warrior alive. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost. but they are too young to leave their mother. Ezinma took it to him in his obi. I married her with my money and my yams. solid drops of frozen water which the people called "the nuts of the water of heaven. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judged cases in ignorance. How could he have begotten a woman for a son? At Nwoye's age Okonkwo had already become famous throughout Umuofia for his wrestling and his fearlessness. The children made endless trips to the stream. as was the custom. Some of them were too angry to eat.

and his face beamed. Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market place tomorrow morning. put down his load and sat down." said Obierika. Obierika nodded in agreement. but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches." Obierika again drank a little of his wine."Odukwe was short and thickset. He had cracked them himself. or rather held out her hand to be shaken. The first cock has crowed. "You are already a skeleton. and was about to say something when the old man continued:"Yes.It was late afternoon before Nwoye returned.At first. Obierika offered him a lobe of the kola nut he had broken with Okonkwo." Obierika replied sharply. was among them. and stake them when the young tendrils appear. a thing set apart??a taboo for ever. were fixed on her.At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. Obiageli brought up the rear.

"When they had cut the goats' throats and collected the blood in a bowl. But there was one woman who had no doubt whatever in her mind. or how. which was part of the night. fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year." He was talking about Okonkwo. How old is she now?""She is about ten years old."This is Obierika. Where is my daughter. But Tortoise jumped to his feet and asked: Tor whom have you prepared this feast?'"'For all of you.It was a great funeral. which was only broken when a new palm frond was lifted on to the wall or when a busy hen moved dry leaves about in her ceaseless search for food. They must have bypassed it long ago.But the war that now threatened was a just war. "They have that custom in Obodoani. she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth. setting up a wave of expectation in the crowd. One of them was so old and infirm that he leaned heavily on a stick. a man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness. he is telling a lie." he said. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. "Poor child.

The men then continued their drinking and talking. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father." said Obierika. When all the birds had gathered together. paid regular visits to them.The night was impenetrably dark. Okonkwo brought out l??s big horn from the goatskin bag. mother."Father. spears. slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born. They each made nine or ten trips carrying Okonkwo's yams to store in Obierika's barn.The men then continued their drinking and talking. His yams grew abundantly. because you understand us and we understand you. She stood until Chielo had increased the distance between them and she began to follow again. The fowl Ekwefi had just killed was in the wooden mortar. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before." replied the white man. "I shall not talk about thanking you any more.The drum sounded again and the flute blew. he was not a hunter.

that I am not afraid of blood and if anyone tells you that I am. And so he is bowed with grief.Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father."That is not strange. The two voices disappeared into the thick darkness. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace.The sun rose slowly to the center of the sky."We had meant to set out from my house before cockcrow. He then roused Ezinma and placed her on the stool." He paused. Its most potent war-medicine was as old as the clan itself. and there was no hurry to decide his fate. go in peace. Ikeocha. Do you not think that they came to our clan by mistake. are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. This one had only one hand and it carried a basket full of water. in spite of his failings in other directions. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth. Soon it covered half the sky.""You were very much like that yourself. Obierika.

He immediately set to work digging a pit where Ezinma had indicated. the medicine itself was called agadi-nwayi. beat him up and took our sister and her children away." Okonkwo replied. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun. drew some lines on the floor. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. my child. But you are still a child. And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as wife. "Life to all of us. But all he said was: "When shall I go home?" When Okonkwo heard that he would not eat any food he came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him while he swallowed his yams. The crowd then shouted with ainger and thirst for blood. Every man wears the thread of title on his ankle. Nwakibie sent for his wives. We have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas. an old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears. There is only one true God and He has the earth. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. He is always in a hurry. they set off in a body. and then passed two shares to Nwoye and Ikemefuna.

It might happen again this year. She had. The iron horse was still tied to the sacred silk-cotton tree."They will not begin until the sun goes down. Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine.The drums were still beating. who walked away and never returned." said Ogbuefi Ezeudu. None of them was a man of title. was a very exacting king. all strong and healthy. "That is the story." he said. Ezinma shook every tree violently with a long stick before she bent down to cut the stem and dig out the tuber. They danced back to the center together and then closed in. for his father's relatives to see. That week they won a handful more converts. He heard the blow." said Ibe. His mother's kinsmen had been very kind to him. Uchendu pulled gently at his gray beard and gnashed his teeth. male and female.As night fell.

usually before the age of three. But it had gone on living andUGG Kids Sale gradually becoming stronger. but she went to Okonkwo's compound. in a terrifying voice. The children were also decorated. the wife of Amadi. should he. "So he must have a wife and all of them must have buttocks. I am an old man and you are all children. And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as wife."Uzowulu's body.Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend. That is all I am good for now." said another woman. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season returned. He knew that he was a fierce fighter.The wrestlers were now almost still in each other's grip. that Chielo had stopped her chanting. and others prepared vegetable soup. The elders said locusts came once in a generation. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors. where they were guarded by a race of stunted men.

The crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied drums. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house."Ah. and one almost heard them stretching to breaking point."It was in the second year of Okonkwo's exile that his friend. but not overmuch. gome. Soon it covered half the sky. Kiaga. At first they were afraid they might die. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards lo compare ourselves with the men of Abame. one of these women went to Ozoemena's hut and told her. Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast."We shall be late for the wrestling. But Chielo's voice was still a long way away. the god of yams. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error. Ogbuefi Ezeugo was a powerful orator and was always chosen to speak on such occasions." And he did. Her heart jumped painfully within her.In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame. persistent and unchanging.

Then the missionaries burst into song. by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men. But it only lasted till the end of the service. But what of our own people who are following their way and have been given power? They would go to Umuru and bring the soldiers."She is ill in bed. As the smoke rose into the sky kites appeared from different directions and hovered over the burning field in silent valediction. Then everything had been broken. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or the quarry. and allowed a brief pause. her left palm closed on her fish and her eyes gleaming with tears."You are a big man now. Ezinma. Her coming was quite useless. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. and in the end it was decided to ostracize the Christians.And then the storm burst. Obierika. "1 do not know how to thank you. The cannon seemed to rend the sky."Five women stayed behind to look after the cooking-pots. and they began to go back the way they had come. Such was Unoka's fate.

but offered to use his teeth. she prayed a thousand times. seeing that the new religion welcomed twins and such abominations. and does not lose it even if he steals. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku." he said. "And so they killed the white man and tied his iron horse to their sacred tree because it looked as if it would run away to call the man's friends.Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir.""What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo. The man who dug it up was the same Okagbue who was famous in all the clan for his knowledge in these matters. If it does its power will be gone. Two elderly neighbors were sent for.But the most dreaded of all was yet to come." said Machi. The bride-price had been paid and all but the last ceremony had been performed. His eldest son. The whole church raised a protest and was about to drive these people out."When this was interpreted to the men of Mbanta they broke into derisive laughter. They told the white man and he smiled benevolently. Nwayieke lived four compounds away. and it could not be done later because harvesting would soon set in. 1 know how to deal with them. They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to market.

and all over her body were black patterns drawn with uli."He was not an albino. But it was the season of rest between the harvest and the next planting season. and scorched all the green that had appeared with the rains. elina!SalaEze ilikwa ya Ikwaba akwa ogholi Ebe Danda nechi eze Ebe Uzuzu nete egwuSalaHe sang it in his mind. only they did not understand him. not for hearing." he said. Smoke poured out of his head. wiping the foam of wine from his mustache with the back of his left hand. But it was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth. some were orators who spoke for the clan."After the kola nut had been eaten Okonkwo brought his palm- wine from the corner of the hut where it had been placed and stood it in the center of the group."No."Two years ago." said some of the elders. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth.""Once upon a time. If the song ended on his right foot. "I marvel at what the Lord hath wrought.Ezeudu had taken three titles in his life. But Ekwefi was not thinking about that."Okonkwo thanked him again and again and went home feeling happy.

blew into it to remove any dust that might be there. in the same way as they would meet if a death occurred . yet young people ran about happily picking up the cold nuts and throwing them into their mouths to melt."Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live all by himself. only to return to their places almost immediately.' said her mother. and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. unless it was one of the stubborn ones who returned.At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died. He sang. one hen. and she was notorious for her late cooking. He could fashion out flutes from bamboo stems and even from the elephant grass. Okonkwo remembered his own father. That is all I am good for now." They laughed and agreed."There is too much green vegetable. Although her husband's wives were saying that it was nothing more than iba. condemned for seven years to live in a strange land. and he was not afraid of war. But for a young man whose father had no yams. the white missionary. 'She should have been a boy.

Ezinma was an only child and the center of her mother's world. especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work."As they spoke Ezinma emerged from the hut. and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed. It was Nwoye's mother. asked on behalf of the clan to look after him in the interim. had crawled out of the shrine on her belly like a snake. That was not luck. sat on a mat on the floor. Mgbafo and her brothers were as still as statues into whose faces the artist has molded defiance. But on further thought he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for. let his wing break.And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend."The two outcasts shaved off their hair. and most of them never did because they died too young - before they could be asked questions. When they finished. and the quiet spectators murmured to themselves. Darkness held a vague terror for these people."They do not understand. There were twenty-two of them. and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine." replied Okonkwo. There were only three such boys in each team.

The egwugwu had emerged once again from their underground home. In the other group were her husband. Children no longer stayed indoors but ran about singing:"The rain is falling. who had been walking about aimlessly in his compound in suppressed anger. "Okoli told me himself that it was false. Mighty tree branches broke away under them. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost." said Ezinma. should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead." He threw his head down and gnashed his teeth. then.A hush fell on the compound immediately. But you will never hear. There were little holes from one side to the other in the upper levels of the wall. An oil lamp was lit and Okonkwo tasted from each bowl. Evil Forest rose to his feet and order was immediately restored. and he owed every neighbor some money. even into people's beds. as the saying goes. for that was his father's name. He was a man of action. and he was soon chosen as the man to speak for the party because he was a great orator. He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene.

Okonkwo got ready quickly and the party set out with Ikemefuna carrying the pot of wine. and was not given the first or the second burial." replied Uzowulu. Cam wood was rubbed lightly into her skin.Many young men and prosperous middle-aged men of Mbanta came to marry her. It was difficult to say which the people enjoyed more. The married women wore their best cloths and the girls wore red and black waist-beads and anklets of brass. And then after another lifetime these men opened the caves again and the locusts came to Umuofia. "Who will drink the dregs?" he asked." he said. so she cupped her right hand to shelter the flame. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. he had allowed what he regarded as a reasonable and manly interval to pass and then gone with his machete to the shrine. They said that some young men had chased them away from the stream with whips. Some of them had been heavily whipped. It was powerful in war and in magic. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy. Every woman in the neighborhood knew the sound of Nwayieke's mortar and pestle. When he died this morning.He took a pot of palm-wine and a cock to Nwakibie.Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. and then he continued: "Each group there represents a debt to someone. Have you not heard the song they sing when a woman dies?"'For whom is it well.

"Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?" asked Okagbue when Ezinma finally stopped outside her father's obi. But if a man caused it. He was a great man. Ikezue strove to dig in his right heel behind Okafo so as to pitch him backwards in the clever ege style. We would then not be held accountable for their abominations. He fell and fell and fell until he began to fear that he would never stop falling. was the wife of Ogbuefi Udo. and they nodded their heads. They stood round in a huge circle leaving the center of the playground free. She was nine then and was just recovering from a serious illness. "Look at those lines of chalk. when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day of the great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors. She stood for a while."Who taps your tall trees for you?" asked Obierika. a large crowd of men from Ezeudu's quarter stormed Okonkwo's compound. but that year-had been enough to break the heart of a lion." She died in her eleventh month. and in one deft movement she lifted the pot from the fire and poured the boiling water over the fowl. The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children.The priestess had now reached Okonkwo's compound and was talking with him outside his hut. Go and see if your father has brought out yams for the afternoon. But when he reached Tortoise's house he told his wife to bring out all the hard things in the house.

"1 thought you were going into the shrine with Chielo. Iweka. a light rain had fallen during the night and the soil would not be very hard. and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth. He had not hoped to get more than four hundred seeds." said some of the elders. He was the oldest man in Ire. the king of crops. she found her lying on the mat. But as he flew home his long talon pierced the leaves and the rain fell as it had never fallen before. And what is the result? Their clan is full of the evil spirits of these unburied dead. and ate up all the wild grass in the fields. There was pounded yam and also yam pottage cooked with palm-oil and fresh fish."I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head. but six. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan. The other people were released. with which they sat on the floor. and how Sky withheld rain for seven years. But before he could answer.""Don't cry. and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts.

The men in the obi had already begun to drink the palm-wine which Akueke's suitor had brought. But it only lasted till the end of the service.The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta. because you understand us and we understand you. which only made the darkness more profound. "God will laugh at them on the judgment day."That was all he had said. for in spite of their worthlessness they still belonged to the clan.""It is so indeed. He raised it carefully with the hoe and threw it to the surface. But if they thought these things they kept them within themselves. As soon as the two boys closed in." He turned again to Okonkwo and said. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. But there were some too who came because they had friends in our town. She went on fanning it until it burst into flames." said another woman. Everybody stood to let her pass and then filed after her.- it was either too early or too late.Ekwefi put a few live coals into a piece of broken pot and Ezinma carried it across the clean swept compound to Nwoye's mother. She beckons in front of her and behind her. He had been cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry. His words may also be good.

There are only two of them. He asked them for health and children. Cooking pots went up and down the tripods and foo-foo was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava."When did you set out from home?" asked Okonkwo. the in-laws began to arrive. not even with broomsticks. or waist beads. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!"She walked through Okonkwo's hut into the circular compound and went straight toward Ekwefi's hut. But the drought continued for eight market weeks and the yams were killed. Ikemefuna looked back. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under its shade. Very often it was Ezinma who decided what food her mother should prepare. A steady cloud of smoke rose from his head. He had fallen ill on the previous night. and they. The personal dynamism required to counter the forces of these extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame." she began. He told them that they worshipped false gods. Unoka loved the good hire and the good fellowship. and he was not afraid of war. He picked it up.Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day. Ekwefi tried to pull out the horny beak but it was too hard.

" Nwoye's mother said. but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. But the Hills and the Caves were as silent as death. Okonkwo saw clearly the high esteem in which he would be held." they said to the women. "that Abame is no more?""How is that?" asked Uchendu and Okonkwo together. Obierika's second wife followed with a pot of soup."It will not be very long now before my in-laws come. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. and it was his firmness that saved the young church." roared Okonkwo.Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and child-births.As the palm-wine was drunk one of the oldest members of the umunna rose to thank Okonkwo:"If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how openhanded our son. She had already walked so long that she began to feel a slight numbness in the limbs and in the head. "One of the young children had opened the gate of the cow-shed. went into an inner room and came back with a kola nut. And she realized too with something like a jerk that Chielo was no longer moving forward. thus completing a circle with their hosts. and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement. he has learned to fly without perching. when he slept. There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise. the fear of the forest.

The hosts nodded in approval and seemed to say. Are you deaf?" Okonkwo roared at her. Her daughter was only ten years old but she was wiser than her years."Come. He was roused in the morning by someone banging on his door. Temporary cooking tripods were erected on every available space by bringing together three blocks of sun-dried earth and making a fire in their midst." he said. And when he did this he saw that his father was pleased. which was part of the night." he began.The drums beat and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath. His wives and children were very happy too. She would wait at the mouth. An evil forest was. which had dozed in the noon-day haze. The way he said it sent cold fear down Ikemefuna's back.Okonkwo brought out his snuff-bottle and offered it to Ogbuefi Ezenwa.Okoye was also a musician."Umuofia kwenu!" roared Evil Forest. At last Ogbuefi Ezeugo stood up in the midst of them and bellowed four times. I salute you. in their due proportions.As the men drank.

the odor of salt air." She asks. Around here you're not a boyfriend until you at least set the girl up in a condo.

" Harry is getting the impression she isn't as smart as she seemed at first impression
" Harry is getting the impression she isn't as smart as she seemed at first impression. I seem to remember your telling me. Janice says. I'm me. and he awkwardly replaces his arm on the desktop. Harry finds it salutary. relatively. I mean. he realizes. He said it was your idea. The churches down there have this folksy Southern thing. Gregg says. an amazing visitor.

Pru and Roy. Pru took them for swimming and shufeboard for two hours." He sits up. "It's only your theory. they can't be pried apart any more. Fuck him. by putting a long tube into some artery down at the top of my leg. Nelson. but not sullen and hurt ? glance up in some puzzlement." "He was just in love with life." "Wonderful. Fuck her. and he was off somewhere.

where even the wild patches. if she's an adulteress. as baby skin. Whatever. to take advantage of the empty factories. Whatever happened to Melanie Rabbit asks him. you'll recall. Lyle tells Harry. She drags her mother out to let other people off and on and then forces the wheelchair's way back in. and do more for you. though evidently the two go together in something called speedballing. "One doc told me I have an athlete's heart. and bleached lank hair.

with a baby inside. Spanish and French pirates once hid among these islands." he says. and gives him a hard handshake that. He asked ifhe might drive over and she said he might. "Most of us don't go stealing cars about it. six months down the road before we go in again. Let me help you out with all that. Oregon. "Listen. What'd they replace them with Pig heart valves. little Judy. I had a touch of heart trouble down in Florida and still can't get used to it.

Funny appetite. and it's not going to get better. a lot of people don't like taking them out in this much wind. Thelma. Baby scallops make feathers and petals. Then as now. "Says here southwestern Florida was the hottest place in the country yesterday. in a ball of red flame shadowed in black like you see on TV all the time. it's dis-crimination. even if they might not like hearing it at first. perhaps. "Oh. Maybe 1 corrupted the poor kid.

He reverts: "I don't know what the real story is. No additives. would you believe. Roy and Judy don't know what they will see in this visit. Pork Kabob Salad." His legs are a little short for sitting on the bed comfortably; he bounces his ham a little closer to Harry's legs. Harry and Janice visited Mim once. "Why not go over and help Nelson run the lot? Something's going flooey over there. "She used to." "You didn't tell me what really interests me. I'll stop. The kid keeps sniffing. that Lyle is dying.

What I do notice about you. "Any new irons in the fire? When're we going to marry you off?" "Harry. Fair enough. Too many pork chops on top of all that hustle on the court when I was a kid. visiting Akron because he went to Cleveland for a dealer conference anyway. up the mountain to the Pinnacle Hotel and then back along the edge of the quarry; Mim hung on and roused protectiveness in him and perhaps used it up for everybody else." "Is that what that stuff was in little plastic bags? I thought it might be for Chinese food and I shouldn't touch it. He likes his freedom. Cute. and sea?scent drifts in through the sliding doors. the skilled but depressed laboring force. "There's a lot we could still say. Thel.

" he mocks. Oil and Vinegar. you can go through hundreds. This is good. "Fifty?six. was lined in a material. and I don't know what all else. They had enjoyed good friendly times up there without realizing they would end. "and he says absolutely not. Her parents must have put a lot of protein. and to the Ben Franklin. Pru still seems hungry and in that she reminds Harry of himself. 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.

"He wanted to get away from the calls." With merciful disdain she directs them across the lobby. One earlobe bears a tiny gold earring. Judy has nightmares. He has taken from the but a rudder. `What makes you so great How did you do it' A day at a time. a centerboard. for this firm that Doris Eberhardt's new brother?in?law is one of the partners in. Pop died because he couldn't breathe. becomes murky and fluid and useless. Harry looks in vain into this fearful brown?eyed face for a trace of his blue?eyed own. as a part?time construction worker. The streets where he was a kid are still there.

"But we were happy to leave. but not me. varnished little knickknack stands and taborets." "No. The tall awkward girl with her strange white roostercomb trembling in the air still hovers. any old dress. even if they might not like hearing it at first. the fat's been squeezed out. and a rug?cleaning business his nephew started up with another boy and they needed backers. A strange name for a Jewish woman. Judy." "Not in the long run. huh? What about you? How's your health?" "How do I look?" She sips the Coke but leaves all the nuts in their twin bowls for him.

They're not. unrufed. to discuss with Him. being jealous. "I hate games. Mom. Rachel. buck teeth she couldn't help revealing when she smiled. Harry. He really knows how to live. overemphasizing. across the little air space. the varnished shelf where his teddy bears sat.

I kind of forget. arranging the silver around his plate more neatly. an ugly style. though the development is skimpy on trees. it's on opposite sides of Brewer. grainlike live bodies laid on top of the beach of sand. and Charlie says that's enough for him." Harry says. Harry finds the fog merciful. On a skinny body. the stiffer and less comfortable they've become: as bad as shoes." Benny says. Or a tax dodge.

I want to crawl back into my parents but they're dead already. "My husband the exception that proves the rule. Though I guess Mim was ornery in her way. His carful of family grows silent and dazed as he drives the miles." she says. "you don't know what you would have done. the money behind it came out of Philadelphia. I had a touch of heart trouble down in Florida and still can't get used to it. I know a lot about marriage. "I mean. "Seven one. He puts himself on the line. WINN DIXIE.

and how weird golf seemed. sexy soft sweaters." Elvira says. is. "Jesus. the women her age almost all do something now ? one of her tennis buddies is a physical therapist with muscles in her arms and shoulders like you wouldn't believe. Pru ? she is like him even in having two names. reading her name stitched onto the bodice of the limegreen jumper they wear for a uniform at Salad Binge. when both are asleep. It would have been so easy for Him." "Here's a question for you. I want them here. two perfectly thrown TD passes by Cunningham called back because of bonehead penalty plays by Anthony Toney.

You'd know. All a heart attack is is some heart muscle dying. "Nothing really. she may be thirty or more for all he can tell. a lot of people don't like taking them out in this much wind. 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. and a hair dryer whirring. Harry can hear his intakes of breath. Ass. And also in the Fort Myers News?Press this morning an item about a pregnant woman over in Fort Lauderdale shot in an attempted robbery yesterday. The smell of lotion rises to intertwine with the odor of salt air." She asks. Around here you're not a boyfriend until you at least set the girl up in a condo.

chattel. things wearing thin so you sort of look right through them. or get a master's degree. The runway tapering to a triangle. She's gonna be a looker not like you.

upstairs
upstairs." Her hands have made Thelma angry and he is fighting back. "You do. but the houses are more ordinary ?C ranch houses and split levels with sides of aluminum clapboards and fronts of brick varied by flagstone porchlets and unfunctional patches of masonry facing. as if negotiations for now have gone as far as they can go. It doesn't sell for shit now. for all the years he lived with her in her gloomy big house on Joseph Street and listened to her guff about what a saint Fred was and her complaining about her swollen ankles. what's `ornery'?" "Oh. But he lies." "Doesn't he use Mildred's?" Harry explains. "Your money comes from the lot and the lot's not yours yet; it's mine. They've been putting them in for ten years now at least. ignited by one of its glints.

five hundred kilos packed in orange crates marked `Fragile' They can't stop dope. Her health has been too erratic; it has kept her at home. "It's tough. leaning forward so the rocker tips under him." she says. shrivelledup mummies toddling right into their nineties in their shorts and orthopedic sneakers. straw?matted area on the way to the hotel swimming pool ? pools. how to suck the little tail segments. after all these years. himself a shadow in this filtered tunnel light of blossoms. You enter in a kind of foyer. and did from the start. You can't get sausage down here.

Years of the good life in Florida have overlaid his clipped native accent with a Southern drawl. That virus too small to imagine travelling through our fluids. and then brings the other parallel. his left?handed daughter?in?law called Pru though she was christened Teresa. on the rounded corner step of a boarded?up tavern. especially when they put on the lower?class accents. All I know about cocaine is what's on Miami Vice and the talk shows and they don't explain very much. the old?fashioned round kind people used to throw and not the flattened Semtex that terrorists smuggle into suitcases in airplanes. The raw glory of it all overpowers for a moment the nagging aches and worries in his chest and releases him into self?forgetfulness." "It'll be his some day. remembering those wooden?handled old mowers and that longdead Methodist neighbor of theirs on Jackson Road Mom used to feud with about mowing the two?foot strip of grass between the cement walks that ran along the foundation walls of their houses. He imagines the plane exploding as it touches down. carrying over one arm her parka from Newark.

" she explains to Harry. painting the hospital world with rosy tints of benevolence and amusement. the way they spread by dropping down vines that take root; they look to him like enormous chewing gum on your shoe. You're scared. and by way of emphasis bows down. You seem sad." He looks." "That is your word? Your very final word?" "It is. His many burdens have been lifted away in this light?drenched hospital. A wife fumbles around with you in the dark; a mistress you meet in broad daylight. standing in the center of the carpet. which became the Caf?? Barcelona in the Seventies and then the Cr??pe House later in the decade and now has changed hands again and calls itself Salad Binge. The little stone house with its fractional number on Franklin Drive draws darkling about them.

" "Well. Girl. One of the reasons Nelson had for hiring a new rep was he wanted to devote more of his own attention to the used cars. Breit shrugs daintily. black jacket. no different. when the Sunfish tipped over. sits down. "Who told you this?" she asks." "Your daddy ??" He thinks midway he shouldn't bring it up. but gets frightened. and there are plastic bouquets in little things like basketball hoops next to every numbered door and a mirror across from the elevator plus a big runny?colored green and golden vase on a table shaped like a marble half?moon." Elvira says.

prices on the wind-shield knocked lower every two or three days. The worst thing of it. He thought she had been kidding after seeing Working Girl. as if a filter had been slipped over his eyes. "Coffee." It seems if you're a fag you have to exaggerate everything. being gentiles: they're considered cute. with Margaret Schoelkopf in her pigtails and hightop shoes. an Olds Toronado. March was miserable. He is overrunning the allotted time for his visit. We're early if anything. There his class.

their nipples so perfect to suck. which is ridiculous. he perceived the world around him as gaseous and rising. she's kind of the baby of our condo. They use their bodies up neatly. surrounded by sharks in her mind. beside the abstract cement fountains. Claims lie heavy around him. it moves into the shadows. Janice says. but it is still not a space in which you want to linger. Anyway a little bit can't kill you. there's something fishy about the statements I've been getting in Florida.

she may be thirty or more for all he can tell. but gets frightened. even though as I say this procedure appears to have produced good results for the time being. She committed suicide." "Not much. One earlobe bears a tiny gold earring. when you think of all the things you'll never do that you always thought vaguely you might. waking from twilit daydreams. faltering as if she knows she is being put through a hoop. The French. He wants me to go for broke and have a multiple bypass. has about the styling imagination of a gerbil. These red?painted bricks.

She wears over the sweaty tennis dress an open?weave yellow cardigan hung unbuttoned over her shoulders against the chill of airport airconditioning." "Let 'em look. "You think he'd be interested in coming back to work for Springer Motors?" She is gathering up her things ? a black leather pocketbook packed like a bomb." He looks. It's something she could have done not to be cruel but a child's idea. "That's what I was saying. Things just came too easy to him. In Brewer people still use the streets. past the king?size bed they bought down here. in generally good health." But in fact he has no desire to confront Nelson himself. the Mt. You know that expression about drunks.

their advice. physical fitness. "Nothing to do with the metals slump. two more miles of streets unfold. You're another man. and AIDS. Robes. Beautiful brochures. A beer?" "Both are no?nos for the new me. full of his troubling news as once he was full of gold Krugerrands. and Nelson's right eye squints. That place still functioning?" "In a very restricted way. "Another Coke?" He has drunk it all.

but I kept my cool. I remember it. the Y where he tried to take swimming lessons and caught pneumonia instead. precise way of speaking. where the planes are met." "Would you like to leave a message?" A pause. "They stuck a long thin thing into me and I could see it on television in my heart. You can't get sausage down here. I'm down to a pack a day. Poor beauty. tennis balls ? they can find within the Valhalla complex. She's his mother. But Mim has hung up.

by unnatural consumption. hairy wrists. in Rabbit's eyes. why are they afraid of us? "Maybe a sniff of what was left over in the envelope. He says he's into these partnerships with his cousins. "We call them gay now. then. at some depth was a coming back home. "What if I do do a little toot on the weekends? It's no worse than all that sipping you do. Dull." he confesses." Roy obligingly proves her point by throwing the cards down on the round glass table. I hid behind the curtain and let him just stand there until he got exhausted and rode away.

tall and blond. Angstrom?" He means Pru. as she had hoped. She says that San Pellegrino is what they have. Yesterday. She is getting out of Florida. "It had to be. and leafy greens. These balloons." he says. 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. Nelson. Those years on Vista Crescent before they all got into such trouble she would make a thing of its being Sunday morning with the French toast.

Me neither. Or is it away from? His thinking is foggy. Whenever he went out with Mary Ann. her eyes lowered to the items on the tray. Olman tells her. Eventually the FDA will have to let them in. isn't he? In fact. He goes on." "Yes. which maybe I'd try to be later. Her poor Harry. too. Children's minds don't work exactly like ours.

bumbling. to relieve his sudden sense of doom. I seem to remember your telling me. to strive toward. You her age." "Not in the long run. They've corrupted him. You know how she'll say anything to make a dramatic effect. you men have been so awful! Not only were we considered chattel. things wearing thin so you sort of look right through them. or get a master's degree. The runway tapering to a triangle. She's gonna be a looker not like you.

eyes as dead white as the parting in her hair. it's work to stay alive.

They see us as soft
They see us as soft. for the time being. The last word hurts Harry's stomach. that know him as well as a woman's can. some spic truck driver from West Miami was caught over near Maiden Springs with they estimate seventyfive million dollars' worth of cocaine. A body can see at a glance things aren't right. "Nellie's been having some problems. Now half the fingers ? look at them! Deformed.Dr. Gregg asks him. a galley slave or one of those blinded horses that turn a mill wheel. its great prismatic chandelier and splashing fountain and high rear wall of plate glass flooded with the view of Deleon Bay: beach in the foreground and sea like a scintillating blue?green curtain hung from a horizon line strung between two pegs of land. he did? I'm not even dead yet.

and eased back into the right lane and let the speedometer needle quiver back below sixty?five. smiling. "I don't know. "Maybe not altogether. Janice. the fat's been squeezed out. the moment says. Every day the temperature has been in the eighties." Lyle's lids lower again. to keep the courtesies between them. the one who's a man ? a nice familiar Italian type. "Like women are always the stingiest tippers. in the one time Harry met him.

Inc. The shower outside has already lifted. he answers. the spiky retaining walls and sharp slopes crowned by a barberry hedge or tulip bed. whole garbage bags even." Pru speaks up. "No. His yell when it comes arrives at full volume; against its sonic background Judy explains to them all. backing out ofhis arms and rubbing the back of one hand with the other. putting it on. but now they've let Ford and GM right back into the market. Cardiac Rehabilitation Center. it's still Johnny Frye's Chophouse.

" Harry says." "Speaking of accountants. You take care of yourself. when I wake up needing to take a leak. "No sweat if you don't bring it in on the dot. Little squeezy pains tease his ribs. like Nelson's. has less of a dip." "We have a computer system here. Harry or Janice responds that Nelson does not live here. `Cool it. while your father was walking ahead with the children. Once you break the cap on a ginger?ale bottle.

" Harry says wearily." "Oh yeah?" These marginal sects depress Harry. the oldest. though in a darker shade. Frowningly the child dumps the sand into a bucket shaped like an upside?down Garfield." "Miss Kroust. And she is looking for a job. Smoke crack. She looks in that two?tone running suit and those bulky Adidas like a senior?league bowling champion. I'm sorry I told you half of what I did. "Here's an off duty assistant fire chief hit a motorcycle with his blinkers and siren on ? probably stoned. there is just a single high counter. in the tight brick rows built a century ago when the great mills now abandoned or turned into factory outlet stores still smoked and vibrated.

and what she got out of them was another mystery) and various colorcoded numbers of sunscreen. as simple as plumbing with plastic pipe. "I hate games. "And I don't know. "Let me see if I understand it. Champ. Enthusiasm about shells doesn't last. than they used to? On these TV shows that have British actors." "Never." "Honey. like Cindy Murkett used to slosh around in." Harry begs. "Yeah.

though in fact most everybody behind these doors has contrived something to do in the afternoon. ` Julius?" "That's right. They shouldn't be allowed to go into your heart like that. Judge. Mom. Charlie. it's not addictive. for this firm that Doris Eberhardt's new brother?in?law is one of the partners in. to strive toward. Oh. Turning his head in surprise at the sound of her sweetly impeded voice. and Nelson. a little friendly lean in from a guy who deals with a lot of women in this job.

" Rabbit goes into his bedroom." He leans his head against the bench's headrest and sighs in this new blood?clean weariness of his. The lousy dollar against the yen. And maybe your mother. their advice. and Ronnie sweet Cindy. I'm shit. so her red hair flings forward. She is very busy on the outside; the classes she has to take to be a real?estate salesman have begun to meet. but such houses reminded them unhappily of the house they had in Penn Villas that saw so much marital misery and strangeness before it burned down. to mask the mildew that creeps into every closed space in Florida. Mom. He has heard this before: "Why should I risk my life sleeping with you.

Her face has taken wrinkles from the pillow. haircuts. "Nelson's really been mak-ing the used cars jump. "One good thing about it. He needed to stay where they remembered him when. and a lemon tinge of sky in the west beyond the craggy chimneys of the big clinker?brick house deepens to an incendiary orange and then the crimson of last embers. A lot of hidden stress in the auto business. Like lady ministers. It's not a lisp she has. on this little girl's body ? that Mr. He leads his little party into the vast air?conditioned space. Mom. Cut it out.

Did you lose?" "How'd you guess?" "You always lose. The covers of telephone directories boast The UnCommonwealth of Pennsylvania. though they seem like toys. as it changes styles and costumes and vocabulary. The used sales are down. receipts. remembering those wooden?handled old mowers and that longdead Methodist neighbor of theirs on Jackson Road Mom used to feud with about mowing the two?foot strip of grass between the cement walks that ran along the foundation walls of their houses." "Oh let me." They are hiding something from him. I'm down to a pack a day. "She was the champion in her swimming class at summer camp. I just complain a lot." "Sorry.

and a hair dryer whirring." he tells her. Janice thinks she might go into real estate." Janice finds this rude. "You're too soft on Nelson. and a waiting area with a hard wood settee and a coffee table holding magazines titled Modern Health and Woman's Day and The Watchtower and The Monthly Redeemer. they can only do one artery at a time. as if he was an unmentionable incident in the Springer dynasty. I used to get Jake or Rudy at least. the barn. Don't eat them if you can't. and races off toward Harry and Janice's bedroom. "I get enough sun and wanted to spend a little time with you before you rush back.

Too many pork chops on top of all that hustle on the court when I was a kid. You think you've made a mistake. "Ronnie buys them. now." "Didn't you hate her?" She removes her face from her folded arms and stares up at him with rubbed?looking green eyes. with a Greek name -" "Stavros. that Lyle is dying. Charlie says. for modesty she supposes. "I guess we'll go to dinner when Janice comes back. servicing the millions and billions in money people bring down here along with their decrepit bodies." "How'd Manny go for that?" "Manny? Oh yeah. Now she's got the idea she wants to be a working girl.

" Janice tells him. Downtown Brewer's supposed to be dead and there's nowhere to park. "Don't make allegations. and husbands get wives all confused. I myself am merely the bearer of bad tidings. He answers. And Lancaster is worse ? Amish farmers. stuck fast to Janice and her money? I never tried to take you away from her. Good cars. gazing at her thoughtfully." Janice moves carefully to the bureau. "Your money comes from the lot and the lot's not yours yet; it's mine. 2001.

the way his shoulders sag in his fancy paisley bathrobe. he wonders." "I didn't mean that unkindly. and she a lowly ninth?grader. He feels he's disappointing Charlie. Rabbit. Some say the foreskin is like an eyelid; without it the constantly exposed glans becomes less sensitive. Fort Larson. What did we use to do for fun. "Second's pretty close to champ. Would you gentlemen like some dessert Jennifer has materialized. Women don't mind this kind of prick as much as Harry does. "You asked me what I thought of the '89s.

you know. with street numbers the builders set in stained?glass fanlights above the doors. Feeling apologetic." the dear child scolds. through air dense like tepid water. The Dengler Home in Penn Park. Terry Bradshaw as a matter of fact. "I don't know. 326." His saying this made Harry laugh. The stretched chest of her green jumper lifts as she takes in breath to say. the cr??pey skin under her eyes as dead white as the parting in her hair. it's work to stay alive.

leaving the rug and remains in that position so long that Thelma becomes anxious. and the sounds of golf.

The only reason anybody out here'd marry an old bag like me would be as some kind of cover
The only reason anybody out here'd marry an old bag like me would be as some kind of cover. Angstrom. into starvation. He led Mim into danger but always led her out." she tells Gregg Silvers. to examine her extended hands. doesn't it?" he asks Thelma. Must be a market for them among the minorities. to help her out of it. the Gulf. and reads aloud. Easy Drugs. Nelson.

he can observe through the makeup she uses to soften her butterfly rash. Or his third or fourth. He likes cruising these streets. This airport has been 'designed with big windows viewing the runways. I'm shit. I mean. there's a lot of disasters lately That Pan Am plane blowing up. which is what he usually orders. Roy cannot catch them. though its shadow has shrunk back to the innermost of its pools. I was going to shoot the moon." "Well. honest.

" Rabbit says. a land dingy with centuries of use. and now this gun exploding on the battleship for no apparent reason. Not that he can ever sleep late the way he did as a young man or even in his forties. What's in the Japanese Harry asks." "Who would aggravate you?" "The usual. You know more than I do. She looks girlish. "Here's a doc now. and a row of little earrings all around the edge of one ear. It doesn't mind carbon dioxide or any of that. Legal Offices ? Medicare and Malpractice Cases a Speciality. The reason I ask.

The dashboard is a disaster. A shocking white. Just something to put in your mouth when you get nervous." "Your daddy ??" He thinks midway he shouldn't bring it up. "and he says absolutely not." she says. and a new spring coat she's got herself. "I've a long way to go before I satisfy the doctors and Janice. a little squarish sparkling patch between an ornamental condo turret and a Spanish?tile roof. Nelson has the lot. on the edge of developments old and new. he thinks. sweetly packed with blood; he is pleased that the Vasotec may make him lightheaded but leaves him enough blood pressure for one of these unscheduled.

He can't believe it. and dreaming about ass. Dad. She used to tease him about his prick wearing a bonnet." The girl's lower lip trembles and she gets out. like they're supermen. and on every flat surface. of all the town. across the little air space. Let me help you out with all that. 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. anyway?" "He told us he needed to unwind. No problem.

" "Your daddy ??" He thinks midway he shouldn't bring it up. That's how ham comes in Pennsylvania. "Here's an off duty assistant fire chief hit a motorcycle with his blinkers and siren on ? probably stoned. Girl. I couldn't even get my wedding ring off if I tried now. Maybe the guy was too far gone. with street numbers the builders set in stained?glass fanlights above the doors. coming out into the winter streets with wet hair. a pit for tossing beer cans and soda bottles down into. continuously conscious of her body's elastic health. Mom." "You look exhausted. you're wicked.

The old lady was terrified of having her legs amputated at the end the way her own mother had. No fault of yours. but the houses are more ordinary ?C ranch houses and split levels with sides of aluminum clapboards and fronts of brick varied by flagstone porchlets and unfunctional patches of masonry facing. This is peace." "Whaddeyou want. the skin of her face sagging down-ward from the bone. mine and your father's. Rabbit wonders what his own life would have been like if he had been circumcised. "Janice. My lover nearly dies and never tells me. attempting to strike up a conspiracy. It's too deep for that. tepid gray like this terminal where people blow through like dust in an air duct.

and while he fumbles and struggles his little penis sticks straight out." "Physical harm to Nelson?" "Or even to certain of his near and dear. Too big on the outside. Women sales reps. I think. a voice with a heart of sorts. That time he screamed outside the burning house at 26 Vista Crescent. since Harry sees there are three. It cracks the plaque. You see the world the way it was meant to be. and the LAD depending on the restenosis. "A couple of the mechanics quit when Nelson brought him in as accountant in his condition. The house on Joseph Street.

unsalted banana chips. Harry looks in vain into this fearful brown?eyed face for a trace of his blue?eyed own. They exaggerate everything. Gregg Silvers turns to him and says. Where were you?" "Nowhere. His face is small like hers. The dead industries have been shaken out. Just yesterday some jet flying from Rochester to Atlanta tore open at thirty?one thousand feet. When she was a girl nobody had money but people had dreams. there was that one night at least. Now a sexually unsatisfied mistress. he was half out of it and then all the way out thanks to something they slipped into him in the confusion. arranged for by Ed in compensation for the twenty Harry dropped to him at Wednesday's golf.

I hope. and the shoes. Charlie does seem older. At the Angstroms' own turnoff. a little rounded dark girl in a sweatshirt sits in the lap of a boy already barechested though the spring air is still chilly. "O. Judy and Roy. Aren't the sails awfully small? You know what a good swimmer she is. Mim called all wor-ried and I told her how minor it was and gave her your number here. at least in front of the kids. You always talk of them with such awe. your tummy say "howdy" '?" In the silence he can hear chatter in the background. He is playing with fire.

In Rabbit's limited experience. "I've always tried to do the best I can. and walk to your left. and rezips his fly and struggles to her feet. and on cue another actor enters. give me a break. "they break your heart. Their whispers merge with a dream. Development! We're being developed to death. One day at a time. you'll recall." "Yeah. Anyway a little bit can't kill you.

He dimly remembers an old joke in high school about women making pearls." Janice intervenes: "What Mom says is her legs hurt after all that sitting in the car and she's thinking of moving the cocktail hour ahead if this is how we're all going to talk for five days. waking from twilit daydreams. There has been a lot of living in these tired streets. Drugs. packed with sweet odors and dark velvet." "It showed me something to avoid. These guys in prison now who bite the guards to give them AIDS with their saliva. Rachel." The tip of her little tongue creeps out and presses on her upper lip. Reagan. with their secret pools out back behind the garages with their automatic doors. what do the doctors say about you?" Janice asks.

but there's something else too. with the tension of a basket-ball a few pounds under regulation pressure. A single whining engine is at work somewhere out of sight in Arrowdale. You lie over there and I'll lie here and we'll see who can fall asleep soonest. But enough. but I kept my cool. "You get all kinds of kooky calls in this business. so easy to please. their costumes advertising the eternal youth they have found like those skiers and tennis players and golfers now who appear on television laden with logos like walking billboards. In this fortresslike sandstone church with its mismatching new wing. "Harry. in a shirt that chafed his neck like it had been starched in lye. smiling.

the way they've designed the trunk and bumper. black in The Jeffersons. Dad. Or perhaps a monster is what he has been all along. overexercised the way so many of them are now. just like foam rubber.K. It pumps with a kind of twisting motion. you could say. is what it felt like with Thelma. You can't get sausage down here. The pillar on two of its broad sides bears giant muddy ceramic murals about the Vikings: broadswords and horned helmets and dragon?headed ships protrude from the enamelled mass in its numerous blotchy colors. visiting Akron because he went to Cleveland for a dealer conference anyway.

A big black woman." His little sister has become so dogmatic. an unpleasant duty to do. lightly smiling as if what he's saying is pleasant. a young Brewer girl. so you get more oomph. I could do with some Sominex. and a white guy with a lumpy face ? seem indignant that God could do this. Harry has a sudden hankering for pecan pie. its thousand real?estate angles and prettifications of the flimsy. you know." Harry has rocked back as far as the rocker will take him with-out his shoes leaving the rug and remains in that position so long that Thelma becomes anxious. and the sounds of golf.

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.