I told her I'd call tomorrow "Illy? One more...
I
told her I'd call tomorrow
"Illy? One more thing She sounded totally awake and in
charge of herself againIs there an oven light?"
"Yes
"You'll have to hold on, then - the cordless is in
the bedroom
There was another pause, shorterThen she came
back and said, "Ashes
"Daddy, what about the rest of your pictures? Are
they all like this one?"
900
"I'm taking care of it, honeyIt's a story for
another dayYou're still my hero
That was the last time we spoke, and neither of us
knewWe never know, do we? At least we ended by
exchanging our loveIt's not much,
but it's somethingI cartier ballon bleu price tell
myself that on the long nights when I can't sleep
Others have it worse
ix
I slumped down across from Wireman and propped my
head on my hand"I'm sweating like a pig
"Busting Miss Eastlake's sink might've had
something to do with that
"I'm sor-"
"Say it again and I'll smack you," he saidIt's not every man who gets to save his
daughter's lifeBelieve me when I say that I envy
youDo you want a beer?"
"I'd throw it up all over the tableGot milk?"
901
He checked the fridge"No milk, but we are go for
Half-n-Half
"Give me a shot of that
"You're a sick, sick puppydick, Edgar But white leather chanel handbag he
gave me a shot of Half-n-Half in a juice glass,
and I tossed it offThen we went back upstairs,
moving slowly, clutching our stubby silver-tipped
arrows like aging jungle warriors
I went back into the guest bedroom, lay down, and
once more gazed up at the ceilingMy hand hurt,
but that was okayShe'd cut hers; I'd cut mine
The table is leaking, I thought
Drown her to sleep, I thought
And something else - Elizabeth had said something
else, as wellBefore I could remember what it was,
I remembered something much more important: Ilse
had burned The End of the Game in her gas oven and
had fake gucci fabric suffered no more than a cut - or maybe a bite
- on the back of her hand
Should have told her to disinfect that, I thought
Should disinfect mine, tooAnd this time there was no giant dreamfrog
to warn me
902
x
A thud woke me as the sun was risingThe wind was
still up - higher than ever - and it had blown one
of Wireman's beach chairs against the side of the
houseOr maybe the gay umbrella beneath which we
had shared our first drink - iced green tea, very
cooling
I pulled on my jeans and left everything else
lying on the floor, including the harpoon with the
silver tipI didn't think replica tiffany jewelry Emery Paulson would be
back to visit me, not by daylightI checked on
Wireman, but that was only a formality; I could
hear him snoring and whistling awayHe was once
more on his back, arms thrown wide
I went downstairs to the kitchen and shook my head
over the broken faucet and the juice glass with
the dried Half-n-Half scum on its sidesI found a
bigger glass in a cupboard and filled it with oj
I took it out on the back porchThe wind blowing
in from the Gulf was strong but warm, lifting my
sweaty hair back from my brow and templesI decided to walk to the beach and
drink my juice chanel purse white there