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Her position was irrational, but that didn’t surprise hireat a folly as co on the shore

"I have to talk this over with Amy," he said "I can’t decide for her"

"Oh, I’ nuts Tell her there’s a funky little dog here nay, needs to be rescued But better e-h"

She said, "I’ve worked this out with Mr Deep Pockets, but he could turn skittish onup

Brian turned to Areased the back of his neck He figured the blood had drained out of his face because his lips felt half numb

"Like Death," A for someone to cut down and take away"

Chapter 40

Harrow says, "Cool as ice"

Getting off the kitchen stool fro across from him at the table, she says, "Brian alas easy"

"Dry ice"

As the ht of the candles to her by a gravity of her own

"How much did you prep for that?" he asks

"No prep Just played off him"

"Not off him Played him"

She smiles "Like a piccolo"

"He should know you by now"

"I wasn’t this much me, back then"

"You were never less"

"Was I never a child?"

"Were you?"

She does not answer

"Where did you learn?"

"Youpoetry"

"Started learning from Mama’s tit"

"You’ve never told me about your mother"

"She’s dead"

"That’s it?"

"What else could there be?"

He watches her sip red wine It looks black on her lips, and then she licks it away

They are in a new place in their relationship Anticipation of what is coreater sense of shared destiny

Harrow feels that he can ask questions that were previously off limits He senses, however, that he cannot yet ask her why she has kept Piggy all these years or why she had a child when she believes, as certainly she does, that nothing matters but the self, the moment, and the thrill

"What about your old man?"

"He was a liar’s liar"

"What did he do?" Harrow asks

"Nothing he didn’t want to"

"My kind of guy"

"He taught history"

"History is lies?"

"The way he taught it"

"Does he still teach?"

"He’s dead"

"They both died young"

"Yes"

Harrow takes a shallow sip of his wine He never drinks to excess in her co to hear you talk so much on the phone"

"With anyone, a lot of talk alwaysthat she doesn’t lie to Harrow

He says, "I’o-Karen and Ron"

"What a fun couple"

They had been twentyso the coast

"You were a chatterbox with theuidebook led Karen and Ron to this re sticks, expensive gear, fresh good looks, and a love of nature

She says, "Women coirl had done ates of charm She had posed as a discreet lesbian, and had subtly but repeatedly hit on Karen

"Poor girl was so flustered"

"But flattered," Harrow says "She didn’t go that way, but she was flattered you wanted her-and relieved you didn’t want Ron You disarmed her"

"We were best pals, me and Karen"

The couple had asked if they could caht on the beach, and the four of theht

Karen and Ron didn’t notice that their dessert wine and that of their hosts were poured fro pain had awakened them to the indifferent stars, the icy reen as an arctic sea

"Ron was boring," she says

"He broke so fast"

Harrow participates in such cere, he always has h to keep hi"

"Quite a rees

In his oddess accepting sacrifices ive up hope," she says

"Well, at the end"

"It was a long way to the end"

Moongirl drinks ithout caution She has no fear of Harrow Besides, even when she’s inebriated, her senses are sharp and her reflexes uncannily quick, as he has seen

"Why do they hope?" she asks

"Not all of the else"