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Back in his garage apartment, Jon took a few minutes to decide where to hide the Mauser He finally went into the bathrooun and aap on the right, snug against the underbelly of the tub He returned to his desk feeling fresh and renewed Again, he raided his father’s study, this ti the first ten pages taught hie in the hands of soant, while Heas spare The stylistic differences see to tell While He long, lavish sentences Neither narrative voice was natural to Jon, but at least he was beginning to understand range and tone

Jon had a stack of Playboy irls all had perfect bodies, but they see their tits hen the girls theotistical, and self-involved? Yeah, right Like he’d really turn one down as unworthy of hi any of theht as well enjoy the illusion of theh the January issue, he got sidetracked by a Ray Bradbury short story called "The Lost City of Mars" and after that, the second part of a new Len Deighton spy novel called An Expensive Place to Die Now he’d seen two more writers with entirely different literary effects

His first few stabs at fiction were erratic, prose that fell flat and ideas that died in half a page The proble to draw on He’d done a lot of reading, but he didn’t have firsthand experience atThe only job he’d had was the unpaid babysitting he’d done for the A Mona Weekends, he caddied at the club, but aside froleaned, it wasclub heads and hus up hill and down He’d had no travel adventures, no athletic triues to overcome Well, the latter wasn’t quite true He’d been a fat boy and he reht it best to avoid stories about prowlers lest he seem too well informed

He wrote part of a short story based on a notion he had about a kid contaminated by radiation, who turned into a zombie and infected his entire family before his dad shot him dead He ran out of steam in the o with it He wrote a mawkish essay about loneliness that struck him as funny when he read it the next day--not quite what he was hoping to achieve He wanted to write about a kid seduced by his tennis instructor, but that wasn’t exactly an area of expertise The tennis pro at the club had put her hand over his once, showing him how the face of the racket should feel on contact with the ball, but that was as close to having sex as he’d co, at least the best part of trying to write, was that it allowed him to spend time alone, tuned to the static in his head Once in a while a line cae from the outer lies and phrases, wondering if one day there ht be more At the end of the week he didn’t have athered up what he’d done and stuck the sheaf of papers in a file folder that he handed to Mr Snoho said, "Have a seat"

Jon sat down in the front row, looking on self-consciously while Mr Snoent through his pages

"What’s this about? You plagiarized Heway?"

"I typed a couple of chapters as war so I did"

Mr Snow rolled his eyes and read on

Jon watched his face, but he had no idea how his as being received When Mr Snoas done, he straightened the pages, lined up the edges, put them in the folder, and handed it back

He didn’t make a comment so Jon was finally forced to clear his throat and say, "So what do you think?"

"As a general rule, beginning, middle, and end are nice, but at least you kept at it Go back and try so trouble co up with stuff"

"Fancy that"

Jon went back to work He wrote at night, usually until three, when he fell into bed In thehe slept late At lunchtime he showered and dressed and headed over to Walker’s house at the top of Bergstro streets, the travel time was fivethe Ravine along its eastern the bridle paths that for one two-lane road, but there was scarcely ever any traffic Late afternoons he’d spend forty y run of six or seven miles After that he’d shower, put on his slippers and sweats, and sit down at his desk For most meals he ate cold cereal or Top Ramen, which was all he could afford after the s