Without a woman around, he had turned into a slob, like Hot Mama’s erstwhile husband. If Julia were here, they could have something elegant and delicious at the Cavalcade, or Mr. Como’s—some mesquite-grilled salmon and some complicated salad that had a choice of fifteen dressings and its own fork. Fresh ground pepper? from a pop-up guy with a phallic pepper mill. That would be nice, he thought—Julia twinkling across from him, self-assured and tender as asparagus tips.In his mind, Hot Mama grinned at him, her teeth on fire, her Einstein hair like some radiation experiment gone awry. She was heavy like the gel form of plutonium. He tried to pound the image out of his head.Later in the afternoon, after washing his car and puttering mindlessly around the house, Reed dropped by Burl’s with a half-formed notion of going to Chicago to find Julia. When he thumped on Burl’s screen door, Burl yelled “Entrez!”Reed battled a caterpillar-green sheet hanging on a line across the front room.
