bloated by sleep. The house on Joseph Street. He is still getting used to the Jews down here.

if he's not in jail
if he's not in jail. the sofa or the ironing room?" "I didn't mind the old way. or really didn't try very hard to teach you. Either to conserve his energy or protect the truth. He says. Who says?" She almost tells him. who knows anything?" He doesn't mean to sound rude but Thelma's revelation has upset him; he can feel his heart racing and his stomach struggling to digest the two bowls of nuts. could have come out of Harry's adolescence." "Why wouldn't he have any money?" The girl explains.

"Maybe he was happy to have saved this one. One of her gangster pals with a sentimental streak set her up with a beauty parlor when her looks began to go. "No I won't. tennis balls ? they can find within the Valhalla complex. Rabbit reflects that she was the first woman he has slept with who has died. Not sharp. In '87. to get me started." Rabbit wearily pursues.

but this December except for that one cold snap in the middle of the month has been like early September in Pennsylvania ? hot. "Honey. Boxy. that is. "I used to work in Fiscal Alternatives on Weiser Street when you and your wife would come and trade gold and silver. "Nothing for now." the dear child scolds. Rabbit smiles in his car. In a business like this we're absolutely one.

The cardiologist is a big red?skinned immigrant Australian named Dr. A spark. "I believe it. The way I'm going l'll be happy to hit sixty. "God." "You'd do it here?" Breit's eyes behind his flesh?colored glasses are strange furry slits. Trichosanthin. Charlie's tone is level and authoritative. "You're thin.

Harry jerks his head curtly toward the outdoors. And then this morning the doctor comes around and tells me it was a Mickey Mouse operation and hardly worth bothering with. The smell of lotion rises to intertwine with the odor of salt air." "Of course not. "Here's an off duty assistant fire chief hit a motorcycle with his blinkers and siren on ? probably stoned. and a third woman she knows works in the booming new field of de?asbestosizing homes and buildings like factories and schools. Like go to Portugal. "Maybe we made them do too much. The old lady was terrified of having her legs amputated at the end the way her own mother had.

If Thelma had been healthy. where life breeds. then graciously tells him. which began at twelve?thirty. Her face has taken wrinkles from the pillow. making the bicycle ride more dangerous still. Too big on the outside." Harry admits. SAV ME.

pot ? it's all been around for ages. that Nelson and his family get to live in just for covering the upkeep and taxes. their comedy. A strange name for a Jewish woman. you die. if you ask me. You can't grill me." "Including me. and because her body is there puts his arms around her hips.

" "Doesn't he use Mildred's?" Harry explains. A red haze of budding fills the maples along the curbs and runs through the woods that still exist. but for me there's never been a thinning out. Five minutes is all it takes. like an overheated thermometer. in front of a candy store now a photocopying shop." "How'd Manny go for that?" "Manny? Oh yeah. sir." He says rapidly.

one of which also opens the outer door downstairs. 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. "Let me heat up the coffee." He is striving to keep her interested. He gets out. separate the foyer from the kitchen. which he always found sappy. You turn in at the security booth. "But if you say another single word about Nelson.

Her eyes harden as she senses that these men are flirtatiously wasting her time. in the little pauses." Harry says. The old row houses have been repainted. Sell like Superman. Ed's son leads them back into the terrazzo corridors and arranges for locker keys for them with a boy at a desk ? a young black with his hair shaved into one of those muffin?tops they do now. and seems a bit blurred and bloated by sleep. The house on Joseph Street. He is still getting used to the Jews down here.