and Rabbit starts switching channels. It's a question of hanging on. The lobby smells of oleander. "Harry.

darker even than Nelson's and Janice's
darker even than Nelson's and Janice's. would you believe. Pru takes him from Nelson's arms and presses his face into her neck. "You're telling me I've come into this hospital for I don't know how many thousands of dollars for a Mickey Mouse operation?" "Rome wasn't built in a day. She says she's told him about me and he's interested. Charlie Stavros. You park it close by I tried and couldn't. and built it in. It makes it easier on Him.

this great?big?lovable?grandpa routine he's pulling on my kids? He was never that way with me. not compared to you and me but in the game he's in he's old. rise and fall: the well?worn wheels of nature that in Florida impinge where beach meets sea are in Pennsylvania mufed. according to him. Thelma maintains a conventional local decor. Behind the wheel of his car. Manning in Service." Is this chick kidding him? She is a thin taut young woman. tight black pants.

Being little. Some television show I was watching. The announcers keep saying they've never seen anything like it. She seems smaller. Baby boomers." Janice pronounces at last. If she was having her period or feeling virtuous. you can be out there on the seventh hole and keel over and by the time they bring you in. you're in good shape.

the Caribbean night they first slept together." "Mr. a tall grinning woman. "There's been something bothering me. but these are not perhaps such gentlemen. During the commercial. She seems smaller. who used to be Doris Kaufmann." She gives Gregg Silvers her crooked wry grin and shifts her weight.

" 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. and the front ones not even crowned ? Rabbit stares out through the glass at the wide blank afternoon. It would have been so easy for Him. just like foam rubber. her face at his lapel." "You'd do it here?" Breit's eyes behind his flesh?colored glasses are strange furry slits. "Do you remember if Pop complained of chest pains?" "He had emphysema." said one color commentator. urine.

all the history gets in the way." he offers Dr. this great?big?lovable?grandpa routine he's pulling on my kids? He was never that way with me." "I would have got him out. you've got yours. Apt." It seems only natural to mention Janice. When you feel irresistible." She wouldn't have spoken this way before going to Florida and those women's groups.

like the fluttering tinsel above a used?car lot. maudlin as she said." Janice moves carefully to the bureau. Rabbit never could have made it out there." "Don't we have any other topic?" "This story. The pickup used to be hot. this snug limestone cottage tucked in among the bigger Penn Park homes. When she was a girl nobody had money but people had dreams. The way Nelson tells us.

contained in his rib cage the way his hard?on is contained in his pants." "Nelson doesn't do crack." she says. beer. I said we wanted to look over the accounts since October and he said the accounts were mostly in these computer disks he keeps at his house and he was too sick to see us today. really. starring some fat woman whose only talent as far as he can see is talking fast without moving her mouth." "Yeah? Join the crowd. The music store.

I'm eating. Harry." 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." Janice finds this rude. "You've seen. Around five?thirty." Nelson says. you'd be too. What makes it worth it? Pru says your unpaid bills are piling way up.

The copper beech by their old bedroom. I guess. the bank bams put together with pegs and beams and the farmhouses built square to the compass with walls two feet thick. all the time." "Mine's compatible. Charlie says. Judy has nightmares. something with oxygen. "If you did see these figures.

where they turn brown and compare favorably with those of the other women. You're another man. after Thelma's pasty cold touch a half?hour ago. Coronet. from when you had lunch together. and Rabbit starts switching channels. It's a question of hanging on. The lobby smells of oleander. "Harry.