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%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK242 Jack Fritscher%u201cYes.%u201dWe were screaming with laughter. She was the funniest woman in the world. I fell into her arms.%u201cHey!%u201d she said. %u201cHey! Hey! Hey! I ain%u2019t your girlfriend.%u201d%u201cSorry. You kill me.%u201dBy the next afternoon, opening a beer, she said, %u201cJoey found you a better job.%u201d%u201cPart-time?%u201d%u201cYeah. You can%u2019t spend all your time studying and blowing beach balls.%u201d She toasted herself. %u201cYou%u2019ve got to date too.%u201d She trailed off into the living room. %u201cYou%u2019ve wasted too much time.%u201d%u201cThank you,%u201d I said. %u201cThanks so much.%u201d%u201cThink nothing of it.%u201d%u201cWhat%u2019s the job?%u201d%u201cI don%u2019t know. Joey will tell you.%u201dAny revelation Joe had I trusted.Louisa plopped down on the couch. Her thighs scooting back on the plastic sounded like a martyr%u2019s flesh tearing. She loved plastic. On the lampshades. On the footstool. %u201cIf I didn%u2019t rent out a room, I could uncover this furniture, but I wouldn%u2019t.%u201d%u201cSave me from studying Victorian lit,%u201d I said. %u201cYou want to watch the late show tonight?%u201d%u201cWhat%u2019s on?%u201d she asked. %u201cNot another one of those gladiator movies.%u201d%u201cNever on Sunday,%u201d I said.%u201cAlready on the late show? I should have gotten more beer. Never on Sunday is not very old.%u201d She was feeling fully Queenie enthroned on the couch, a mystery woman, a woman of mystery, revealing everything, revealing nothing, an object lesson in something. Her feet rested up on the coffee table. %u201cSit down,%u201d she said. She made busy, buttoning her housecoat to her throat, but over her breast the cloth hung loose and apart, a dark tunnel lit by the alternating light and shadow from the TV screen. One pendulous sag was visible and moving, blanched white by Channel Five. She reached for her beer and the movement of her arm lifted, then closed, the view. We sat watching the news. Never on Sunday never showed up.%u201cMaybe the soundtrack was going to be on the radio,%u201d I said.%u201cI thought it was too new for TV.%u201d She tilted the beer can all the way back. %u201cGuess I won%u2019t stay up. Too good a night for sleeping anyway.%u201d%u201cEvery night%u2019s a good night for sleeping.%u201d%u201cEven that gets hard on the back,%u201d she said.%u201cI never have any trouble,%u201d I lied.