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"And baseball"

"I thought that was the Russians"

We finished everything, just as she'd predicted She cleared the table, opened a second bottle of Beck's "I'll have to learn the ground rules," she said "I feel a little funny about drinking in front of you"

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

"No, but I'm afraid I'll ht to talk about how great beer is with Chinese food because, oh, I don't know Is is all right to talk about booze that way?"

"What do you think we do at s? We talk about booze all the ti about it than we used to spend drinking it"

"But don't you tell yourselves how terrible it was?"

"Sometimes And sometimes we tell each other hoonderful it was"

"I never would have guessed that"

"That didn't surprise hter People tell about the das that happened to them, and everybody breaks up"

"I wouldn't think they'd talk about it, let alone laugh I guess I thought it would be like ed"

"In the house of the hanged," I said, "that's probably the chief topic of conversation"

Later she said, "I keep wanting to bring the flowers in here That's crazy, there's no room for them They're better in the kitchen"

"They'll still be there in the "

"I'?"

"Sure"

"God I don't know if I should tell you this Well, with that preaave me flowers before"

"That's pretty hard to believe"

"Why is it so hard to believe? I spent twenty years devoting myself heart and soul to revolutionary politics Radical activists don't give each other flowers I eois sentimentality, your late capitalist decadence Mao said let a thousand flowers bloom, but that didn't mean you were supposed to pluck a handful and take them home to your sweetie You weren't even supposed to have a sweetie If a relationship didn't serve the party, you had no business in it"

"But you got out of there a few years ago You were ed buckskin and love beads He should have had a 1967 calendar on his wall He was locked in the sixties, he never knew they'd ended" She shook her head "He never brought ho tops, yes, but not flowers"

"Flowering tops?"

"The most potent part of the marijuana plant Cannabis sativa, if you want to be formal Do you smoke?"

"No"

"I haven't in years, because I'arettes That's funny, isn't it? They try to scare you that it'll lead to heroin, and I'ht lead to tobacco But I never liked it thatout of control"

The floere still there in the ht, but then I hadn't planned on dropping in on her in the first place The hours just slipped away from us We talked, we shared silences, we listened to music, and to the rain

I awoke before she did I had a drunk dream They're not uncoone by the tiot my eyes open, but in the dream someone had offeredBy the time I realized I couldn't do that, I'd already drunk half of it

I woke up not sure if it was a dream and not entirely certain where I was It was six in the o back to sleep even if I could, for fear of slipping back into the drea her I was tyingwatched, and I turned to see her looking at me

"It's early," I said "Go back to sleep I'll call you later"

I went back to e for me Jim Faber had called, but it was far too early to call him back I went upstairs and showered and shaved, then stretched out on the bed for aoff I hadn't even felt tired, but I wound up sleeping for three hours and woke up groggy

I took another shower and shook off the grogginess I called Jiht," he said "I was just wondering how you were doing"

"I'reat qualification"

"Oh?"

"Guy froh a period where he kept trying to kill hiht He couldn't swim a stroke, so he rented a flat-bottom rowboat and rowed for miles Finally, he stood up, said 'Goodbye, cruel world,' and threw himself over the side"

"And?"

"And he was on a sandbar He was in two feet of water"

"Soht"

"Yeah, everybody has days like that"

"I had a drunk dreaht," I said

"Oh?"

"I drank half a beer before I realized what I was doing Then I realized, and I felt horrible, and I drank the rest of it"

"Where was this?"