and her complaining about her swollen ankles. and his inherited sharp?chinned accountant's jaw has been softened by a mother's blood and a job of holiday facilitation He smiles.

" Lyle says
" Lyle says. I'd just as soon be dead. girls doing wicked things to themselves believing their youth would shine through and all would heal. cleaning away the winter's cobwebs and polishing the Koerner silver her mother left her. They have brought this morning's News?Press as a present to Harry and while they are waiting on the bench Nelson begins to read it." Harry tells them. Remembering. that it's not enough to lie here and accept the apparition of them like another channel of television. Alex.

he felt like a winner. and figures they would not know anyway. A battlefield of good and evil. born the same fall Harry and Janice began to spend half the year in Florida. including a big green glass egg with a bubble inside it." "Grandpa. I told her to go out there where her dad was living with his squaw and kick ass. they listening with half an ear each to this newest little thing he feels very strongly about. Harry is stunned that Ed's son could make this blunder but then thinks he must deal all the time with men in advanced middle age who have younger wives.

I fear. five billion With the world jammed up like it is the wonder is more of us aren't trampled to death. Money spooks 'em. though she had had a face?lift. unable to concentrate. Harry? Have you become a devotee of his? Is that why you don't go to church?" He stands.' I'll still tell you." he calls. floating these big smoked?glass superliners.

back in Mill Valley. for this firm that Doris Eberhardt's new brother?in?law is one of the partners in. and prompts. even the VW bug expressed something. She is breathless. No fault of yours. I still have an interest up there." "I just was. Or never be a test pilot.

Charlie Stavros. and it comes tumbling out. My lover nearly dies and never tells me. of all the town. finding another subject. Rabbit is curious to see that this grown daughter. and disliking herself for clinging. It stretches the artery back to the way it was. and then crypts.

I'd just as soon be dead. I was raised in a marriage. Pru?" Hauled back from a politely smiling daze." "Yeah. It's as if Pru's worthless creep of a father has been disguised as a child and sent to spy on them all. pinks and greens like a Chinese tea?house. knowing that this man isn't sound inside and can have a heart attack. I myself am merely the bearer of bad tidings. Would you like the last of those Danish we bought? If you don't your father will eat it.

it's easy to slip off. female voices whisper. You're wide awake. they believe that headlines always happen to other people. any old dress. as maybe Harry's did when he was trying not to appear a chauvinist in Elvira's eyes. much as this morning he threw the spoon. and that is within his privileges. Inside.

He must lose some weight. with a repair?free longevity that's absolutely un-believable. A block or two back from the highway in the carbon?monoxide haze tall pink condos like Spanish castles or Chinese pagodas spread sideways like banyan trees. he wonders. and avoids his eye. "We damn near broke our backs. Younger even than me than Roy is than you. and we went over to the lot and this Lyle who was so mean to you wasn't there but I was able to reach him over the phone at his home number. "High insurance is hurting everybody's twoseaters.

and the sounds of birds and golf have gone away. starring some fat woman whose only talent as far as he can see is talking fast without moving her mouth." Harry has heard this before. Do not rest the blame with me. Harold Roy. I was in your shoes. their laps in plain view. Don't let things get to you." "We'll see.

piped through his blistered?looking lips. Love and death. the people who play tell me." "I was beat. 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. The way I'm going l'll be happy to hit sixty. as if a blow might come from that unprotected side. Her feet are long and bare. the den with its frost?faced TV and two silvery?pink wing chairs and bookshelves holding a smattering mostly of history books and on the upper shelves some china knickknacks (fairies under toadstools.

with a Greek name -" "Stavros. plus a little flowery cruciform tattoo pricked right beside her eye. not wanting to let go however. Judge. The stretched chest of her green jumper lifts as she takes in breath to say." "Say what?" "Shh. her face hard from too much sun. 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. and his inherited sharp?chinned accountant's jaw has been softened by a mother's blood and a job of holiday facilitation He smiles.