There was a twittering of birds and a scolding of squirrels in the trees. Everything was drenched with the fragrance of newly-washed fruitful earth. Dona spread two of the slats in the blinds apart and looked out. All that was left of the rain was a muddy puddle in the road. Her watch told her it...
The man in the easy chair looked bored. His wife was still talking about the tough afternoon that she’d had at her club. The rough bricks had rubbed my fingers raw. I licked the blood off them, as I stood with my back to the wall wondering what to do, wondering what I could do. I could turn mysel...
A basket on one arm, her ample bulk corseted and encased in black bombazine, Mamma Salvatore paused on her way to market. The men in Bay Parish minded their own business. It was a fetish with them. The women weren’t any different from women anywhere. Mamma’s big eyes studied Cade’s nose and injur...
Chapter Six THE FURNITURE was old and comfortable. There was a fire burning in the grate. The bookcases on either side of the mantel were filled with well-thumbed leather-bound copies of Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Schopenhauer. Lathrop studied the names incuriously as he waited for...
A steady stream of cars, three abreast, filled the streets. There was a continuous shrill of police whistles and a blare of automobile horns as the Latin-American citizenry acted as midwife to the new day being born. Ames bought a morning Tribune from a boy on the corner of Franklin Street and mo...
The cars were four abreast on the outbound lanes of the freeway, big cars, little cars, station wagons filled with children, most of them headed for the sea, the mountains or the desert. It was one of the advantages of living in Los Angeles. If you could afford it, you had such a wide variety of ...
A moment of silence followed. Then a key turned in the lock and Lou opened the door. Beads of water glistened on her satin flesh. She stood holding a bath towel to her chest. Her green-gray eyes were sullen. “What do you want?” she asked. I exhaled slowly. At least she hadn’t screamed. The chance...