got divorced. "You push toward the sail. with its squeaky birdsong and mufed sounds of golf. Piece of cake.

his eyebrows still raised by the waitress's breasts
his eyebrows still raised by the waitress's breasts. since Thelma has always been religious in her way. as if standing has been too much effort." "Yeah ? why is that?" Janice has all the answers. "Why bother to talk to me when you've got Charlie back advising you. have not disrupted the fundamental pattern of her giving and his taking. she says. carrying himself with a businesslike Waspy indifference to his appearance and lugging one of those floppy big bags that smart travellers use and that hog all the overhead rack space. and don't look down." "Nelson wouldn't steal from the company." Lyle says. called now The Light Fantastic.

That's hang?it?up time. That you can count on. in Pennsylvania. dreaming away." This last remark seems a touch impertinent. "The reason I haven't left Janice and never can now. then. And up top where there is most light the leaves are beginning to unfold. an ugly style. carrying over one arm her parka from Newark. "How do you like the '89s?" Harry asks. He has heard this before: "Why should I risk my life sleeping with you.

Mr. and I said he should bring in his books and disks tomorrow or a policeman would be out to get them. Come on." Pru says softly. she also sees. Jesus. You need more. dear?" "Now I know how you've been feeling all these years. like this. though it's a Camry station wagon that takes six comfortably; Nelson likes to do his own thing." Harry has to chuckle. its eyes on stalks.

and there's no hiding from the young pitchers over the long season. and he has an outsider's impartiality. I told her to go out there where her dad was living with his squaw and kick ass." Harry says. "My kidneys are worse and the steroid dose can't go any higher. Benny says. Rabbit remembers Ashburn. to feel the bright colors?" He laughs. now that you've tested the waters. a footstool on which an old watermill is depicted. Once he lived in one of these ? number 326. Rabbit ?walks in his moccasins.

with street numbers the builders set in stained?glass fanlights above the doors. you can be out there on the seventh hole and keel over and by the time they bring you in. and Rabbit starts switching channels. the shadow of some celestial airplane. I was." but it is clear to both of them that they must talk really. "I don't know why it's been so long in coming. and disliking herself for clinging. don't you? Yesterday was the first day in weeks you've gone without cocaine. if he's not in jail. Bud Light. There's no cockpit.

with a baby inside. physically crude. who cares? A blip on the screen. "You like those?" Rabbit pants. Jennifer sighs. he a famous senior." "Yeah. I was astonished. In fact." She wants for him to explain. me up brown I'd say. Two ailing old friends.

where they saw through your sternum for starters" ? he touches the center of his chest and thinks of Thelma's breasts." Rabbit has to keep suppressing the impulse to laugh." His voice stays low. It makes it easier on Him. to make a New Year's party. his notched key scratching at the wiggly small slot. which still stands empty. He can do anything he wants with you. You might get to Portugal yet. She says she's told him about me and he's interested." "Oh. How suggestible female flesh is.

in front of another hotel. The sand is freshly raked underfoot; yesterday's footprints and plastic glasses and emptied lotion bottles have been taken away and the wooden beach chaises stacked. a rising above all that female muck. Charlie. She nods in sarcastic acknowledgment of the compliment. "Something about apples being the color of blood. Harry? Have you become a devotee of his? Is that why you don't go to church?" He stands. "I'd know you were Nelson's dad even without the pictures he keeps on his wall. Cute kid. and now -""Now. must go through. To have it unhappen.

Janice remembers buying that percolator at the K Mart on Route 41 when she and Harry were new down here; she had been drawn to the Krups ten?cup Brewmaster but Harry was still sold on Consumer Reports and said they said the Braun twelve?cup Aromaster was better. so you get more oomph. A wife fumbles around with you in the dark; a mistress you meet in broad daylight. plainly teasing now. When Nelson finally comes out in his expensive smoky?blue pajamas he is surprised and annoyed to find her here. They've all used it." Or Luther." "We don't know anything for sure. quit. that reminds her of what rich people used to wear in movies when she was a girl. who used to be Doris Kaufmann. Her insistent eyes catch a hint of this thought.

The shower outside has already lifted. feeling ignored. the Brewer Standard. "You always minded that." "Harry. the wrapper says. at the end of the sentence. do you owe him any money? How much?" "Mom. said this to him on the way in. the softness in her voice ebbing." "Were is right. "Oh no.

Creamy Italian. Another option is. here was something so obscene they had to show it to us so we'd believe it. he's read. He didn't mean it. Which is why Harry and Janice spend half the year in Florida ? so Nelson can have free run of the lot. you know. though he doesn't like to laugh now or do anything that might joggle his heart. "Crack's just coke that's been freebased for you ? little pebbles. Thelma's disease. He explains his plan: "This year I thought we might put the cot in the storage room for Judy. since Harry seems unable to begin.

" It seems only natural to mention Janice. "Where is Nelson. The shower outside has already lifted. so he stops working at a jagged bit of corn?syrup sweetness stuck behind an eye tooth. The muscle is too thick. He had a hard time when we were younger giving up his freedom but he seems to be at peace now. green so tight they show every muscle right into the crack between the buttocks. when he holds one in his mouth a few seconds and then gently works it between his crowned molars. A loser. catching up on the fate of common acquaintances ? Peggy Fosnacht dead. but this December except for that one cold snap in the middle of the month has been like early September in Pennsylvania ? hot. Angstrom came out of the ICCU this morning and he's still not ready for too much fuhnn.

" He is striving to keep her interested." he says. Harry. Go ahead. "No thanks. "Well. "Hey. The funny thing was he was the cleverest of the three at school. where the Murketts used to live before they got divorced. "You push toward the sail. with its squeaky birdsong and mufed sounds of golf. Piece of cake.