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"You are fabulously glamorous," Richard said "So will you please stop that shit?"

"Okay"

"I meant Little Orphan Annie in the nicest possible way And you have big eyes, the saht brown And they really pop now that your hair’s not falling in front of them"

"So now I’m pop-eyed? I’m sorry, I’ll stop"

"And you don’t look at all like Raggedy Ann," he said "Thesilence Then she said, "He’s not a bad fellow, you know When he’s sober"

"He’s not sober, though, is he?"

"No"

"And drunk or sober, he was never right for you And deep down you always knew that"

"Oh, God, Richard You’re absolutely right"

"Well, of course," he said

Her belongings filled the trunk and shared the backseat with hty-fourth and Amsterda spot I told him to park next to the fire hydrant, and handed him a card to put on the dashboard

"Detectives’ Endowet a ticket?"

"It improves the odds"

"I don’t know," he said "I’d take my chances on a ticket, but what if they tow it?"

Donna said, "Honey, you’ll feel a lot e the stuff We’ll just make an extra trip"

She lived on the fifth floor of a brownstone It was a fine building in excellent condition, and the only smell in the stairas a faint hint of furniture polish But it was a walk-up, and it took us three trips, and by the tihts of stairs for the third time I inded

"Sit down," she said, "before you fall down Those stairs keep me in shape, but they’re killers if you’re not used to the three tilass of water? Or reat"

"Except it’s Pepsi"

"Pepsi’s fine"

"Here you go I’ll just tell Richard we’re all set now"

She parkedroom, in front of a fireplace with aa nineteenth-century landscape in a fancy fra was centered on the dark hardwood floor It was a very pleasing room, richer and more formal than I’d have expected, and a better ht than to this afternoon’s jeans and sweater

I wondered what the apartment’s other rooms looked like The kitchen, the bedrooined them, and then I heard her footsteps on the stairs

"Now just let , and dropped onto the ive you his love, and tell you to have a happy anniversary, if he doesn’t see you before then You’re co up on a year, aren’t you?"

"Pretty soon"

"Another Coke? Pepsi, I et you another?"

"One’s et--"

She caued about it I told her it was too iven Richard and that hat she was giving me I said I’d have been happy to do what I’d done for free, out of friendship, so at the very least why didn’t we split the difference? And I handed her one of the bills, and she pushed it back at me

"I’d have happily paid four hundred," she said, "or eventhe difference And if you’ll put the money aon’t have to discuss it anyreed that she had a point there, and put the bills into, I said, "Well, let me spend some of this on dinner Will you keep me company?"

Her eyes widened "What a lovely idea But it’s Saturday, and don’t you have a standing date with--is it Jane?"

"Jan"

"I was close"

"And she decided she’d rather spend this particular Saturday having dinner with her sponsor"

"Oh"

"I guess the two of the they feel it’s important to discuss Me, most likely"

"Oh," she said She was on her feet, and I stood up myself, and our eyes locked I felt as if I were on the brink of a decision, and then I realized the decision had already been made