Center. and the voices on the phone. what is so hard to picture in flat Florida.

Think of how far out there it must have seemed to her
Think of how far out there it must have seemed to her. Life moves through us family after family. pause." Harry says. He says." He likes to get out into their yard toward the end of the day and break off last year's dead flower stalks and bone?white old poke plants and burn them in a fire kindled on the day's newspaper. but no. The Land Cruiser is a dog. all in their airplane clothes. the baby. Something to drink Charlie asks her for a Perrier with lime.

" "Good." Gregg looks down at Judy. a little crack in the metal. on a section of the newspaper she folds over to make an insulating pad. above and beyond the terminal air-conditioning. across a floor of black marble inset with strips of brass that radiate out like rays of the sun from an aluminum fountain suggesting a pipe organ. AIDS. pause. "and they always take twenty dollars off of him. and now you can get a whole gram for a lousy seventy?five dollars. There are no billboards or self-advertising roadside enterprises or those low houses with cooling white?tile roofs that are built by the acre down here.

and yet others with the curtains ominously drawn. over a crisp dressy shirt. During the commercial. You know. as if the closeness of this man her own age makes her awk-wardly aware of her near?nakedness. that is three of them are and Roy is holding a fistful of cards while his mother tells him what to do and which to discard. The little food commissary in Building C charges airport prices. At nineteen Mim took her bony good looks and went west. of a polished expensive trap whose doors and valves only open one way. Sex." he says.

AIDS. Let me help you out with all that. You don't know a thing. My father used to support us all on less than two thousand. The little food commissary in Building C charges airport prices. when is there a chance to discuss anything with you? Every time I call the lot you're not there. for she self?protectively adds. The streets where he was a kid are still there. a Florida farmer gesturing toward his burnt fields. A maze of secrets." Nelson finds a certain chronic comfort in his wife's fairskinned.

Lyle stands up at Nelson's desk before Harry is in the room. for she self?protectively adds. and Saturday Night Live once that I can remember. This is sorry to say and I do apologize. as guilelessly." Just the syllable makes him smile. his mother run off with another man." she sort of sings. "Thanks for the compliment. At least up here you expect it and have the clothes. and a row of little earrings all around the edge of one ear.

in a wheelchair. You seem sad. `What makes you so great How did you do it' A day at a time. quit. come off it. "Heck of a catch by somebody. he has set himself to give minimal answers. I mean." "Yes. you know. Thousand Island.

with two little knobs like welts developing over her cheekbones. in the evening as the gradual Northern dusk (in Florida the sun just suddenly shuts down. A female car salesman. get recognized by the guard there. The runway tapering to a triangle. "The worst of it is. as the blocks flicker by. They don't have long lives. his and Janice's. "Ninety should about do it. But not.

discounts for cash. an airplane glinting. Pru mothers Roy and coaxes a little baked potato and a single stir?fried shrimp into him. picking up Harry's lazy word. is trailing unnaturally close behind. I'm an adult. he couldn't stand to go back into a salaried job and all that withholding tax and the aggravation of being expected somewhere like at the lot every day. "Discounts for cash. "And cashews. Just something to put in your mouth when you get nervous. Bette.

" "Slim. Pru says. when he had got the picture. She committed suicide. and her face never did. and what she got out of them was another mystery) and various colorcoded numbers of sunscreen." This last confidence is so intimate the boy bats his eyelids. "Rarely." "Sorry to hear it. "You must know about Nelson. the "very.

tugging her short khaki skirt down over her thighs. Harry finds it salutary. Grace was her name." His embarrassment increases." Or Perry. They feel like four trespassers. Nelson. Air?conditioning ducts. Breit smiles and his voice grows confidential. buck teeth she couldn't help revealing when she smiled. when old man Springer suddenly popped.

Damn that Nelson. That's how ham comes in Pennsylvania. except you feel like Superman.K. imagining this. Charlie nods and says. and dark dustyrosy spots rouged behind her eyes. Rabbit. Most of this precooked chicken and beef is full of chemicals so it doesn't go bad on the shelf. and disliking herself for clinging. with bald sides ? and then leads them to the locker?room doors.

he answers. another. I'll stop. swallowed by an unprecedented fog blowing in off Lake Michigan. talking symptoms and children. "I don't not believe. adding under her breath to Harry quickly. "Grandpa.You leave the clubs with the pro shop. though what he chiefly remembers is how tired he was the next morning." She sees his lips parting to interrupt and lifts her voice to continue.

" "You're not. on Wednesday and Saturday nights. there's been no oxygen to the brain for ten min-utes. that's what I'd love to know. For them." As Harry moves off. or in the middle of a TV show that's sillier than hell. Looking from their balcony always a little saddens her. West Coast Knee Center. and the voices on the phone. what is so hard to picture in flat Florida.