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"You look exhausted," I told Carlo He really did

"I sewed a nose back on tonight Cartilage and all"

"That’ll take it out of you"

"So what’s creepy about the way I’reen hospital scrubs, Carlo looked paler and smaller than I remembered hi in li for somebody else toup pictures"

"You never did either of those things"

"I know But it’s different when there’s two people living in a house with no pictures It looks like you’re just too busy having fun with each other to pay attention to the walls"

"I miss you We did have fun"

"Not thathere ibly than in Grace On these scarred wooden floors, Hallie had rolled up the rugs and attempted to teach us to ot one postcard, froales"

"Yeah, rite She’s real busy" I didn’t tell him rote a lot We’d revived an intensity of correspondence we hadn’t had since 1972, the year I escaped from Grace and Hallie came into a late puberty, both of us entirely on our own This ti like love or dread, but we still needed each other to make sure it was real We had to live with an odd, teek lag to our conversations I’d be writing her about so victory at school, and she’d be addressing the blue funk I was in teeks ago when I was gettingit would someday even out

"How’s your father?"

"Oh," I said, "deteriorating Forgetting who I a these days?"

"Yeah, I am, as a matter of fact," I said, evasively

"You haven’t had that eyeball dream?"

I’d never been able to explain this to Carlo’s satisfaction "It’s not really an eyeball drealass, and then I’m blind It’s a very short dream I’d rather not talk about it if you don’t mind I’m afraid I’ll jinxit?"

"No, not for a while"

It was kind of hiently squeezed htness in my deltoid muscle Not that it applied to us anyreat lovers "So you’re getting along okay there?"

"As well as I get along anywhere," I said, and he laughed, probably believing I iving soht to Denver," he said "Or Aspen"