for the next few weeks, savoring his half hours which he spent telling Serena of the views of the heavens as seen from outer space, and listening to Serena talk of how she would p a i n t t h e p l a n e t s i f o n l y s h e c o u l d s e e w h a t t h e y l o o k e d l i k e .
' 'I can show you the heavens, and I can help you leave Texlahoma,
t o o —if you're willing to come with me, Serena my love,' said Buck, w h o o u t l i n e d h i s e s c a p e p l a n s . A n d w h e n h e e xplained that Serena w o u l d h a v e t o d i e , s h e s i m p l y s a i d , ' I u n d e r s t a n d . '
"The next day at noon when Buck awoke, Serena lifted him out of t h e b e d a n d c a r r i e d h i m o u t o f t h e b a s e m e n t a n d u p t h e s t a i r s , w h e r e his feet knocked down framed family portraits take n y e a r s a n d y e a r s ago.
'Don't stop,' said Buck. 'Keep moving—we're running out of time.' "It was a cold gray afternoon outside as Serena carried Buck across the yellowed autumn lawn and into the spaceship. Once inside, they sat
d o w n , c l o s e d t h e d o o r s , a n d B u c k u s e d h i s l a s t e n e r g i e s t o t u r n t h e ignition and kiss Serena. True to his word, the love waves from her heart boosted the engine, and the ship took off, high into the sky and out of the gravitational field of Texlahoma. And before Serena passed out and t h e n d i e d f r o m a l a c k o f o x y g e n , t h e l a s t s i g h t s s h e g o t t o s e e w e r e Buck's face shedding its pale green Frankenstein skin in lizardy chunks onto the dashboard, thus revealing the dashing pink young astronaut beneath, and outside she saw the glistening pale blue marble of Earth against the black heavens that the stars had stained like spilled milk.
"Below on Texlahoma, Arleen and Darleen, meanwhile, were both
returning home from their jobs, from which they both been fired, just time to see the rocket fire o f f a n d t h e i r s i s t e r v a n i s h i n t o t h e s t r a t o -sphere in a long, colonic, and fading white line. They sat on the swing Bet, unable to go back into the house, thinking and staring at the point where the jet's trail became nothing, listening to the creak of cha i n s and the prairie wind.
" 'You realize,' said Arleen, 'that that whole business of Buck being
| able to bring us back to life was total horseshit.'
" 'Oh, I knew t h a t , ' said Darleen. 'But it doesn't change the fact that I feel jealous.'
" ' N o , i t d o e s n 't , d o e s i t ? '
"And together the two sisters sat into the night, silhouetted by the luminescing earth, having a contest with each other to see who could swing their swing the highest."
CON
STRUCT
Claire and I never fell in love, even though we both tried hard. It happens. Anyhow, this is probably as good a point as any to tell some thing about myself. How shall I begin? Well, my name is Andrew Palmer, I'm almost thirty, I study languages (Japanese is my specialty), I come from a big family (more on that later), and I was born with an ectomorphic body, all skin and bones. However, after being inspired by a passage from the diaries of the Pop artist, Mr. Andy Warhol—a passage where h e e x p r e s s e s h i s s o r r o w
after learning in his mid-dle fifties that if he had
exercised, he could have
had a body (imagine not
h a v i n g a b o d y ! ) —I was
galvanized into action. I
began a dreary exercise
regimen that turned my
birdcage of a thorax into
a pigeon breast. Hence, I
now have a body—that's
o n e problem out of the
way. But then, as men-tioned, I've never been in love, and that's a problem. I just seem to end u p a s friends with everyone, and I tell you, I really hate it. I want to fall in love. Or at least I think I do. I'm not sure. It looks so . . .
messy. A11 right, all right, I do at least recognize the fact that I don't want to go through life alone, and to illustrate this, I'll tell you a secret s t o r y , a s t o r y I w o
' 'I can show you the heavens, and I can help you leave Texlahoma,
t o o —if you're willing to come with me, Serena my love,' said Buck, w h o o u t l i n e d h i s e s c a p e p l a n s . A n d w h e n h e e xplained that Serena w o u l d h a v e t o d i e , s h e s i m p l y s a i d , ' I u n d e r s t a n d . '
"The next day at noon when Buck awoke, Serena lifted him out of t h e b e d a n d c a r r i e d h i m o u t o f t h e b a s e m e n t a n d u p t h e s t a i r s , w h e r e his feet knocked down framed family portraits take n y e a r s a n d y e a r s ago.
'Don't stop,' said Buck. 'Keep moving—we're running out of time.' "It was a cold gray afternoon outside as Serena carried Buck across the yellowed autumn lawn and into the spaceship. Once inside, they sat
d o w n , c l o s e d t h e d o o r s , a n d B u c k u s e d h i s l a s t e n e r g i e s t o t u r n t h e ignition and kiss Serena. True to his word, the love waves from her heart boosted the engine, and the ship took off, high into the sky and out of the gravitational field of Texlahoma. And before Serena passed out and t h e n d i e d f r o m a l a c k o f o x y g e n , t h e l a s t s i g h t s s h e g o t t o s e e w e r e Buck's face shedding its pale green Frankenstein skin in lizardy chunks onto the dashboard, thus revealing the dashing pink young astronaut beneath, and outside she saw the glistening pale blue marble of Earth against the black heavens that the stars had stained like spilled milk.
"Below on Texlahoma, Arleen and Darleen, meanwhile, were both
returning home from their jobs, from which they both been fired, just time to see the rocket fire o f f a n d t h e i r s i s t e r v a n i s h i n t o t h e s t r a t o -sphere in a long, colonic, and fading white line. They sat on the swing Bet, unable to go back into the house, thinking and staring at the point where the jet's trail became nothing, listening to the creak of cha i n s and the prairie wind.
" 'You realize,' said Arleen, 'that that whole business of Buck being
| able to bring us back to life was total horseshit.'
" 'Oh, I knew t h a t , ' said Darleen. 'But it doesn't change the fact that I feel jealous.'
" ' N o , i t d o e s n 't , d o e s i t ? '
"And together the two sisters sat into the night, silhouetted by the luminescing earth, having a contest with each other to see who could swing their swing the highest."
CON
STRUCT
Claire and I never fell in love, even though we both tried hard. It happens. Anyhow, this is probably as good a point as any to tell some thing about myself. How shall I begin? Well, my name is Andrew Palmer, I'm almost thirty, I study languages (Japanese is my specialty), I come from a big family (more on that later), and I was born with an ectomorphic body, all skin and bones. However, after being inspired by a passage from the diaries of the Pop artist, Mr. Andy Warhol—a passage where h e e x p r e s s e s h i s s o r r o w
after learning in his mid-dle fifties that if he had
exercised, he could have
had a body (imagine not
h a v i n g a b o d y ! ) —I was
galvanized into action. I
began a dreary exercise
regimen that turned my
birdcage of a thorax into
a pigeon breast. Hence, I
now have a body—that's
o n e problem out of the
way. But then, as men-tioned, I've never been in love, and that's a problem. I just seem to end u p a s friends with everyone, and I tell you, I really hate it. I want to fall in love. Or at least I think I do. I'm not sure. It looks so . . .
messy. A11 right, all right, I do at least recognize the fact that I don't want to go through life alone, and to illustrate this, I'll tell you a secret s t o r y , a s t o r y I w o
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