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“What business?” he said, taking off his shoes and socks

“About watching My Super Sweet 16” Mindy turned off her light “Soet you At all”

James didn’t feel tired, so he left the room and went into his office He sat at his desk, his feet bare, looking out the smallthat framed the tiny courtyard Howout this , and laboring on his book one word at a time? And for what? A lifeti to re-create life when life was all around him

So Lola

He got into bed and lay stiffly next to his wife “Mindy?” he said

“Mmmm?” she asked sleepily

“I do need sex,” he said “By the way”

“Fine, Ja it froht”

Mindy fell asleep James lay awake Several pernicious sleepless seconds ticked by, then ot up and went into Mindy’s bathrooht hi in there” He’d better not be relieving himself, she would warn

This ti carefully into the boithout lifting the toilet seat Searching for aspirin, he opened Mindy’selse in their lives, it hadn’t been cleaned out in years There were three nearly ereasy bottle of baby oil, ed containers, and a dozen bottles of prescription pills, including three bottles of the antibiotic Cipro dated October 2001—which Mindy had obviously hoarded for the fa with a bottle of malaria pills and antihistamines (for bites and rashes, the label read), and a container of sleeping pills, on which DANGER OF OVERDOSE was typed Here was Mindy, he thought, prepared for any e the necessity of death But not sex He shook his head, then took one of the pills

Back in his bed, James immediately fell into a brilliant Technicolor dreae lands where everyone lived on boats He swam across a warm salty sea Then he had sex with a movie star Just as he was about to come, he woke up

“Ja laundry before she went to the office “Are you all right?”

“Sure,” James said

“You were talking in your sleep Moaning”

“Ah,” Jao back to his drea sex But he was seeing Lola, he reot out of bed