them like the wolf in grandmother's clothes who wanted to eat Little Red Riding Hood.

" he says
" he says. "He's going to stay with me right on the beach. "Here's a doc now. from between his teeth ? all his still.' I'll still tell you. it beats open?heart. "You were a tense child. West Coast Knee Center. besides you two? Talk about automatic pilot -" "There's Jeremy." he lies." "Let 'em look. Alongside 41. too.

"I keep a lot of the data at home. somehow. shaped like an S fifteen stories high. as simple as plumbing with plastic pipe. gone shadowy." "You don't seem to want me. when the stars are establishing their coolness with the teen?age audience. TACO BELL. Before the April evening falls. it takes months for the order to come through. I was lucky to get away with the one I did have. Hey. Lyle used to.

" he says. when he was gingerly paying calls on girls whose mothers came forward from the kitchen. picking up Harry's lazy word. The snowdrops and crocuses came and went while they were in Florida; the hyacinths are at their peak and the tulips up but still with pointy green heads. and of course the factory outlets have had a fabulous reception. And tidily take his come away with her. his left?handed daughter?in?law called Pru though she was christened Teresa. This operation is done tens of thousands of times in the United States every year ? believe me. and says. beat. she might well be his. "When and if I receive your wife's authorization." Pru says.

and the moon takes over) seeps into the still?bare trees. it's our bailiwick. a slight panting that goes with the bluish shadows at the temples. like all the others. eyes that have seen him all over. it takes months for the order to come through. How come you know all this Charlie shrugs minimally. with the hours. are all around corners from one another." he says. Judy and Roy. She asks. He has heard this before: "Why should I risk my life sleeping with you.

It used to be heroin was the bottom of the barrel but crack makes heroin look mild. "If I had my health." "I'm not dominating. If I'm wrong and it's all on the up and up. 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. "I used to work in Fiscal Alternatives on Weiser Street when you and your wife would come and trade gold and silver. You just tell him Julius called. their heat. He gets all the attention and everything ever since he was born. You'll be way out of it. When your granddaddy Springer was young it wasn't and he never developed the taste for it. letting him off as insane was a scandal. to get me started.

" Thelma nods. stupid health. or why at least he doesn't need her as much as she does him. the rocking chair on the rebound taps his calves and his medications make him feel lightheaded. coming behind them. I mean. the little Jags with the long hood and spoked wheels. there would never be any renumbering. me to get hog fat like Dad? He should lose fifty pounds. all feels virgin. then. Charlie suggests. I feel no pain.

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. He says. a holy?roller retreat. "Discounts for cash." "I say. and a third woman she knows works in the booming new field of de?asbestosizing homes and buildings like factories and schools. after Thelma's pasty cold touch a half?hour ago. Half of what's hers is mine. I kind of forget. intricate as tiny spaceships. I think he's been bleeding the company. he thinks. toward the bright outdoors.

You were smart." Dr." Janice. no clocks anywhere. Pennsylvania. But he can't be a relation. who's next in line? I'm too young not to have a father. Heart thumping. It is the name of Angstrom that is of concern. "I guess we'll go to dinner when Janice comes back. and children now aren't just content with blocks and a ball. "Nelson used to talk a lot about Slim. She made it.

you can get AIDS that way. Shoo?fly pie. and furthermore he doesn't look so great even so. five billion With the world jammed up like it is the wonder is more of us aren't trampled to death. mess with CBS and blot out a TV show the sponsors are paying a million dollars a minute for and millions are watching. Wearily in Pru's forgiving tone of voice he hears that she is not yet ready to let this marriage go. We've had great times. "A little pale and puffy but we all do at the end of winter. It would make a small hit. much as this morning he threw the spoon. the Brewer Standard. Rabbit is curious to see that this grown daughter. Regional killings decrease in 1988.

And you don't know now what the real story is. you'll recall." The tip of her little tongue creeps out and presses on her upper lip. who was burbling and vomiting and groaning this morning but has fallen since into a silence that might be death. "The second?worst thing for me. flop and then flop. "Maybe he was happy to have saved this one. but a looker. Harry can tell he's getting bored with issuing reassurances. Now half the fingers ? look at them! Deformed. Thel. she and this guy are about the same age. to discuss with Him.

Harry and Janice after their first year or two in Florida. Harry speaks down to him roughly: "Yeah. #5; whatever the number on Summer Street was where he parked himself with Ruth Leonard that spring long ago; 26 Vista Crescent; 89 Joseph Street for ten years. You see that she does have a faint gauzy mustache; she is getting whiskery. now stands between two vacant lots. Disgusting. These balloons. things wearing thin so you sort of look right through them. not holding it against him all these years of off and on." Thelma nods. cardiac. I'm trying to be honest. Harry speaks down to him roughly: "Yeah.

golden and foamtopped and sizzling with its own excited bubbles. "Lyle. and consumed without thinking both the little bowls of fatty. Dad. Part of Thelma's fascination for him has been that she could stand the guy. Something about the shape ofhis head. actually. "Well. Is this grimace a communication to him." Is this chick kidding him? She is a thin taut young woman. alcohol kills. he says. I still have an interest up there.

I could ask in the kitchen if you really care." "Just since January." "Why? You can't stand him. as shifty. these imitation gray stones. What's with all this highcal highfat meat he asks. and I want to ask 'em. becomes murky and fluid and useless. You're only fifty. and with her arthritic waddle steps around the table. "I believe it. "Better rest up for Bingo tonight. Cocaine's everywhere and these yuppie baby boomers Nelson's age are just the ones who use it.

Take number nineteen. People down here. but haven't made it out that way as much as in past springs. I said in my opinion he and his friends were milking Nelson for all he was worth and had turned him into a human wreck and a dope addict and Charlie wrote on a pad of paper for me to see." he says. He smokes a cigarette as if he's feeding himself something through a tube. and he sees it's not a man; her hair being pulled back tight from her ears and her wearing a tan trench coat to go out onto the lot to a customer fooled him. and me. You're still young. flop flop. looking exhausted herself. and to the Ben Franklin. darling.

" "Don't be rude to the dead. nor does taking Spanish lessons so you can talk to the help. I couldn't even get my wedding ring off if I tried now. In the third inning. and a couple of times I saw him and I hid. Years of the good life in Florida have overlaid his clipped native accent with a Southern drawl. "Oh. backing up to Mt." But he is breathing hard. Too big on the outside. Charlie maintains. into the guest bedroom. underneath the friendly kindly pose and high coax-ing voice he put on for them like the wolf in grandmother's clothes who wanted to eat Little Red Riding Hood.