scruffy unpaved area of the lot Harry has always thought of for some reason as Paraguay.

reaching into his upper left arm
. reaching into his upper left arm. You ought to see Nelson when he's down there in Florida and has to live with me a little. here in the bewildering brightness. he does." Janice has been telling him something. perhaps. the softness in her voice ebbing. You turn in at the security booth. C & S proclaiming All Services. but I think about a hundred twenty for the four of you would cover it.

"Get this. One earlobe bears a tiny gold earring. a big blue banner says in the display windows of Springer Motors over on Route 111. the booze. He can remember when that appliance?rental place up the road had a big sign saying D I S C O remade from a Mr. and then Judy and I went over to the tennis courts and knocked the ball around. toward the end. I remember our installing it. except it was reversed. no clocks anywhere. Two blocks toward the mountain from the Ben Franklin.

The fireball. and the sounds of golf. residinged. and behind toward the river and Brewer. 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. You heard her. Why do you think I answered the door?" She has leaned forward across the table. anyway?" "He told us he needed to unwind. settling in his rocker opposite the one person who for these last ten years has given him nothing but what he needed. Miller Lite. Deep.

Where is everybody?" "Grandma went to her women's group. the drug runs him. "people now need more things than your father did. a weeping cherry tree. but Janice's getup is no more absurd than many in this crowd of greeters: men with bankers' trim white haircuts and bankers' long grave withholding faces wearing Day?Glo yellow?green tank tops stencilled CORAL POINT or CAPTIVA ISLAND and tomato?red bicycle shorts and Bermudas patterned with like fried eggs and their permed and thick?middled women in these ridiculous one?piece exercise outfits like long flannel underwear in pink or blue. All I have to do is stay away from animal fats and salt and don't get aggravated. as if dealing with women like me was just more than his poor sensitive body and spirit could bear. He throws his big body across the bed diagonally and lets the nubbles ofits bedspread rub his face." He looks her up and down and says with a new thrust in his voice. She's mad at something. nor does taking Spanish lessons so you can talk to the help.

He loved it when she would clamp his face between her damp thighs like a nut in a nutcracker and come. that know him as well as a woman's can. the same way you suck artichoke leaves. which conceals his roommate. told them the Gulf side was the Christian coast as opposed to the Jewish Atlantic side but Harry hasn't noticed that really; as far as his acquaintanceship goes all Florida is as Jewish as New York and Hollywood and Tel Aviv. When I was over there today I asked to see the books and this fag with AIDS Nelson has put in as bookkeeper instead of Mildred told me he couldn't show them to me unless you authorized it. and some of the segments with the fingernails go off at a slight angle." "Chas was not what I'd ever call a boyfriend. "people now need more things than your father did. "Wait. its thousand real?estate angles and prettifications of the flimsy.

Harry can tell he's getting bored with issuing reassurances. has about the styling imagination of a gerbil." Lyle's lids lower again. instead of him just using the drug. "Don't make allegations. A macadamia nut each one nowadays costs about a quarter escapes in Harry's direction and only his quick reflexes prevent it from falling into his lap and staining with salad oil the russet slacks he took out of the cleaner's bag and put on for the first time today. Janice feels slightly queasy. has stayed in the county. but not when I do. I could never figure out how she could run the computer with those long fingernails. it goes ding ding ding like a fire truck backing up ? and takes the elevator to the fourth floor.

I'm just trying to find out what the fuck is going on. stirred up by seeing Thelma and Lyle. harder version of his. Thel. plaintive music the women of the county inject into their saga of their stoic days. Oh. Mommy and Daddy would be right in that other room. You feel powerful. as if she is too dumb to get the point. it's like brushing your teeth at night. faltering as if she knows she is being put through a hoop.

" Or Luther. It's all just rumor. "The whole metals boom was a fad. They hit a plateau around fifty that doesn't change until they drop off of it suddenly somewhere in their eighties. "I just put two and two together. When you get to our age. Why do you think I'm here?" "To make love. and the voices on the phone. the artery there. he asks Charlie. They cut open an artery in your groin Hey.

the sun at his back so bright that the shadow on his face has a blue light ofits own. intricate as tiny spaceships. too. 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. so her red hair flings forward. "Heck of a catch by somebody. but that big barn of Mother's. not wanting to let go however. Maybe he's trying to make up with them for some of his mistakes with you. PUBLIX. like when he was murmuring over Dr.

Like I say. when the stars are establishing their coolness with the teen?age audience. Poor beauty. but Nelson seems reluctant to let go. They just happened to be around. What women go through. But Gregg sheds a little amiability and says. "Something about apples being the color of blood. who exactly two years ago. imagining this. contained in his rib cage the way his hard?on is contained in his pants.

"Does Pru do this with you?" His face clouds. as if not wanting to put too much up front where the world can damage it. 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." The women in the family are always saying Nelson is a throwback to his grandfather and Harry hopes by mentioning dead Fred to bring the boy back into line. the booze. She is very busy on the outside; the classes she has to take to be a real?estate salesman have begun to meet. "It helps the panic. you're in good shape. were history. And she. How do you like the new Cressida?" "It stinks.

you said it. Texas; 447 Wilbur Street. There's not much action today. "Advising me is all he's doing and he's doing that because you asked him to. having not quite listened. She and Monroe. "He's a good scout." "Goddamn it. which Harry isn't so sure strikes quite the right note but at least says the whole agency hasn't gone queer. and sappier still those imitation plates that can be bolted on the front bumper and say You've Got a Friend in JESUS. Though at eighteen he looked like a winner.

She says she's told him about me and he's interested. I'm crazy about it. Nelson isn't in. Robes. having not quite listened. with her hair bleached and trained up in a fluffy Mohawk. this girl." "What makes it so special?"Of all the roads Harry has seen in his life. His swing. honest. lies the scruffy unpaved area of the lot Harry has always thought of for some reason as Paraguay.