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She stayed two more days, and they were good days
When Jack and I took her back to the airport,
she’d gotten some sun on her face and arms and
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seemed to give off her own benevolent radiation:
youth, health, well-being
Jack had found a travel-tube for her new picture
“Daddy, promise you’ll take care of yourself and
call if you need me,” she said
“Roger that,” I said, smiling
“And promise me you’ll get someone to give you an
opinion on your picturesSomeone who knows about
that stuff
“Well-”
She lowered her chin and frowned at meWhen she
did that it was again like looking at Pam when I’d
first met her”You chanel classic flap better promise, or else
And because she meant it – the vertical line
between her eyebrows said so – I promised
The line smoothed out”Good, that’s settledYou
deserve to get better, you knowSometimes I
wonder if you really believe that
“Of course I do,” I said
Ilse went on as if she hadn’t heard”Because what
happened wasn’t your fault
I felt tears well up at thatI suppose I did know,
but it was nice to hear someone else say it out
loudSomeone besides Kamen, that is, whose job it
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was to scrape caked-on grime off those troublesome
unwashed pots in the sinks of the subconscious”You are going to get betterI
say so, and tiffany co earrings I’m tres bossy
The loudspeaker honked: Delta flight 559, service
to Cincinnati and ClevelandThe first leg of
Ilse’s trip home
“Go on, hon, better let em wand your bod and check
your shoes
“I have one other thing to say first
I threw up the one hand I still had”What now,
precious girl?”
She smiled at that: it was what I’d called both
girls when my patience was finally nearing an end
“Thank you for not telling me that Carson and I
are too young to be engaged
“Would it have done any good?”
“NoBesides, your mother will do an adequate job
of that for both of us, I think
Ilse scrunched her mouth into an ouch shape, black chanel handbag then
laughedbut only cause I got
ahead of her for once
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She gave me one more strong hugI breathed deep
of her hair – that good sweet smell of shampoo and
young, healthy womanShe pulled back and looked
at my man-of-all-work, standing considerately off
to one side”You better take good care of him,
Jack
They hadn’t fallen in love – no breaks there,
muchacho – but he gave her a warm smile
“And he promised to get an opinion on his pictures
Jack smiled and nodded She gave me one more kiss, this one on the
tip of the nose
Then she went through the doors, festooned with
bags but still walking brisklyShe looked back
just montre cartier tank before they closed”And get some paints!”
“I will!” I called back, but I don’t know if she
heard me; in Florida, doors whoosh shut in a hurry
to save the air conditioningFor a moment or two
everything in the world blurred and grew brighter;
there was a pounding in my temples and a damp
prickle in my noseI bent my head and worked
briskly at my eyes with the thumb and second
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finger of my hand while Jack once more pretended
to see something interesting in the skyThere was
a word and it wouldn’t comeI thought borrow,
then tomorrow
Give it time, don’t get mad, tell yourself you can
do this, and the words usually prada bags cheap come