which is simply incongruous isnât it, I mean Harry Winston doesnât turn you out for a church supper in Kalamazoo and Gianni wouldnât make me a shroud if they could see this coat right now with God knows whose blood on it spreading God knows what, this new depravity theyâve come up with just to get back at the rest of us who thought the bad news for a good fucking went out with penicillin but itâs not like that loathsome Mister Jheejheeboy anymore is it, making a career out of marrying us we were all such damn schoolgirls but so long after school was out, now you donât dare touch anybody under thirty Teen Iâve got to talk to you.
âYes but just, Harry? Harry wait a minute . . .
âBecause I mean marriage at our age Teen, suddenly itâs half the fun at twice the price will you call me?
Maracas, bongos, chichicaboomchic, heâd got as far from the commotion in the wheelchair as the waiting room allowed, standing there drumming his fingers on the attaché case when a nurse tapped his arm, pointing down the corridor to âsix twelve B.
âChristina?
âYes Iâm coming. And that shopping bag will you, oh youâve got it. Trish? Call me?
âLove to Oscar, and Teen? I meant to say how devastating for your father, all over the papers with that horrid dog, and youâll call? Someone should simply shoot it, nurse? Are you going to simply leave me standing here like this?
âHere, this way . . . and down the corridor, âtalk about Lily . . .
âWell what about Lily! Striding out ahead âno, there are two kinds of people in the world Harry, one of them gives and one of them takes, think about it. You donât think those benefits that Trish gives are breadlines do you? Her third husband owned half the timber in Maine, and hereâs Lily squeezing money out of poor Oscar when he wonât even buy himself new teeth, like that car, buying new tires for the car or will it fly to pieces first.
âLike that . . . catching her aside as a nurse came bearing down on them with the wheelchair from behind.
âLike what.
âParkinsonâs, as the wheelchair passed with silent leaps of a hand, jerks of the head, âpalsy, Christina. Palsy.
612 B: in the first bed an inert figure lay absorbed in the chaos of a traffic report from a hand sized radio; and beyond the drawn curtain from a welter of newspapers, âWell. Youâre finally here.
âWeâve been waiting out there for hours Oscar, they said you were in therapy or something.
âDid you think Iâd be out playing baseball? Hand me that glass of water will you? Hello Harry.
âHarry wanted to stop in and see you Oscar, he brought . . .
âDid you bring my mail? and the papers?
âI was going to but I thought theyâd just upset you. Of course youâve got them all anyway.
âI didnât say newspapers did I? Of course Iâm upset. Did you see that item Harry?
âItem? How could he help it, itâs the whole front page! She came rounding the end of the bed gathering them up, flourishing the bold headline, âsomeone should simply shoot it, will you just look at this?
O UT , D AMNED S POT
âYou think somebody wonât? Heâd taken the only chair, snapping the attaché case open on his lap, âpolice, firemen, torchlights, hot dogs, cotton candy, see them on the news last night Oscar? Stars and Bars and the good old boys with six packs in both hands, the hound in the pickup with the shotgun rack behind the seat, theyâre probably burning the old man in effigy down there right now, he . . .
âWhat else can you expect, being a Federal judge in that outlandish place Oscar move your leg.
âI canât, wait, those newspapers, what are you doing . . .
âThrowing them out, youâve read them all havenât you? If you want to keep
âYes but just, Harry? Harry wait a minute . . .
âBecause I mean marriage at our age Teen, suddenly itâs half the fun at twice the price will you call me?
Maracas, bongos, chichicaboomchic, heâd got as far from the commotion in the wheelchair as the waiting room allowed, standing there drumming his fingers on the attaché case when a nurse tapped his arm, pointing down the corridor to âsix twelve B.
âChristina?
âYes Iâm coming. And that shopping bag will you, oh youâve got it. Trish? Call me?
âLove to Oscar, and Teen? I meant to say how devastating for your father, all over the papers with that horrid dog, and youâll call? Someone should simply shoot it, nurse? Are you going to simply leave me standing here like this?
âHere, this way . . . and down the corridor, âtalk about Lily . . .
âWell what about Lily! Striding out ahead âno, there are two kinds of people in the world Harry, one of them gives and one of them takes, think about it. You donât think those benefits that Trish gives are breadlines do you? Her third husband owned half the timber in Maine, and hereâs Lily squeezing money out of poor Oscar when he wonât even buy himself new teeth, like that car, buying new tires for the car or will it fly to pieces first.
âLike that . . . catching her aside as a nurse came bearing down on them with the wheelchair from behind.
âLike what.
âParkinsonâs, as the wheelchair passed with silent leaps of a hand, jerks of the head, âpalsy, Christina. Palsy.
612 B: in the first bed an inert figure lay absorbed in the chaos of a traffic report from a hand sized radio; and beyond the drawn curtain from a welter of newspapers, âWell. Youâre finally here.
âWeâve been waiting out there for hours Oscar, they said you were in therapy or something.
âDid you think Iâd be out playing baseball? Hand me that glass of water will you? Hello Harry.
âHarry wanted to stop in and see you Oscar, he brought . . .
âDid you bring my mail? and the papers?
âI was going to but I thought theyâd just upset you. Of course youâve got them all anyway.
âI didnât say newspapers did I? Of course Iâm upset. Did you see that item Harry?
âItem? How could he help it, itâs the whole front page! She came rounding the end of the bed gathering them up, flourishing the bold headline, âsomeone should simply shoot it, will you just look at this?
O UT , D AMNED S POT
âYou think somebody wonât? Heâd taken the only chair, snapping the attaché case open on his lap, âpolice, firemen, torchlights, hot dogs, cotton candy, see them on the news last night Oscar? Stars and Bars and the good old boys with six packs in both hands, the hound in the pickup with the shotgun rack behind the seat, theyâre probably burning the old man in effigy down there right now, he . . .
âWhat else can you expect, being a Federal judge in that outlandish place Oscar move your leg.
âI canât, wait, those newspapers, what are you doing . . .
âThrowing them out, youâve read them all havenât you? If you want to keep
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