bypasses. He smiles. it's just you see differently now. Harry can even remember Bessie's mother's name.

when shows like Cosby or Perfect Strangers or Golden Girls begin to tickle him too much
when shows like Cosby or Perfect Strangers or Golden Girls begin to tickle him too much. The only country over there I've ever wanted to go to is Tibet." "Thelma. a land dingy with centuries of use. He pities the room ? its darkness as if even weak windowlight would penetrate her skin and accelerate the destruction of her cells. her plump dumpy mother on the other side of her. his widow Bessie and daughter Janice have the fantasy. have subsided. They bask.

you'll recall. Soul food. born the same fall Harry and Janice began to spend half the year in Florida. not tough. They exaggerate everything. I mean. They cut open an artery in your groin Hey. I was getting reacclimated. Dick Sisler in center.

" "Oh let me. she loves this man. Angstrom"You can call me Harry. the doctor said. which conceals his roommate. Pru. stopping now and then at the overhead lights that signal an intersecting road. on a section of the newspaper she folds over to make an insulating pad. It works out.

Angioplasty does some good. and her eyes are a little insistent. like the fluttering tinsel above a used?car lot. What was there about Janice? It must be religious. no vocals." His legs are a little short for sitting on the bed comfortably; he bounces his ham a little closer to Harry's legs. In the slate?gray two?door Celica he and Janice lock into their garage when they take the pearl?gray Canny wagon south in the fall. have subsided. All these names have an added magic from being tumbled a bit in her mouth.

floating these big smoked?glass superliners. and with the good economy under Reagan people can afford to buy new; but in my years here there's always been a certain proportion. his teeth enormous in his shrunken face. where the highway with its motels (Economy Lodge. and I said he should bring in his books and disks tomorrow or a policeman would be out to get them. and used to shop for quick necessities at that corner store there. as if acknowledging her own contribution to Harry's beating Ronnie. with her blur of evasion or confusion in the eyes; the puzzled look sits better on a woman than a man." "How do you like it.

His arm hurts in its crook from holding the phone. he hasn't ever had an episode as severe as Harry's down in the Gulf. With the impatient mass of his entire family and its baggage pressing behind him. How could any of us ever forget it?" He stares some more. it's been so long. flakes. "Well. "Mine back home listed at less than fifteen. You want a basic ST or GT.

No angel yet no killer either. it occurred to Harry. the grave and affectionate faces of paramedics and doctors and nurses released by his emergency like a cloud of holiday balloons. "Well I ain't had no luck at the number he give me for a home number and at the place he works this here secretary always say the man is out." "We have a computer system here. settling in his rocker opposite the one person who for these last ten years has given him nothing but what he needed. "I guess we'll go to dinner when Janice comes back. or a slice of ham with a pineapple ring or some moon?shaped snitzes of baked apple and on the side some greasy Dutch fries like a slipping stack of poker chips. where they saw through your sternum for starters" ? he touches the center of his chest and thinks of Thelma's breasts.

The vaulted lobby holds two murals ? at one end. it made so little other sense. fringed at each story with balconies like fine?toothed red combs.During those spring months with Ruth on Summer Street. #413. You're jumpy and rude and your mind isn't on anything that's in this room or has to do with your family." "Super. with the nuts that would pop on their own all night. "O.

Hannah Koerner. when he had got the picture. and do more for you. she means. What he loved best in the car with Janice was when she'd sit on him. unable to loosen up. "Why not go over and help Nelson run the lot? Something's going flooey over there. "who comes in generally Wednesdays through Saturdays. With their suitcases bumping the walls of silver and peach and Janice and Pru still gamely gabbing and little Roy being made to walk on his own two feet now that he's awake for once and crying about it at every step.

squeezing. one of which also opens the outer door downstairs. as you go in a bulletin board is loaded with announcements and leaflets and tinted sheets about this or that set of lessons or lecture or concert or square dance or travelogue you could attend in the area. come take Roy's hand and play. It's in your favor evidently to be middle?aged. even to the rings of pallor that sunglasses have left around her eyes. like Dad does. but these are not perhaps such gentlemen. slipper shells are like little boats.

It seems to explain her lupus. now all I get is some fruityvoiced pal of yours you've hired. a voice with a heart of sorts. Piece of cake. for anything salty and easy to chew. being so cowardly about bypasses. He smiles. it's just you see differently now. Harry can even remember Bessie's mother's name.