DANIEL ASA ROSE
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sharply, "she's going to be a wonderful mother ... loving and
kind and ... beautiful as a queen. I want you to believe that.
You believe that, don't you, Henry?"
"Sure," came the muffled, mortified voice of Henry, who
was quickly formulating a cancer superstition of his own,
namely, that cancer might be contagious at certain proximities.
Embarrassed? Yes, but Henry was used
to
that; far worse was
feeling infected.
42. How did Henry deal with this new feeling?
By proceeding, directly upon his return to the patio, to get
smashed.
43. Did this help?
It
might have helped had Henry chosen an appropriate
chair from which to do it, but he mistakenly chose a low-slung
canvas chair situated below the level of the table. Henry was too
inexperienced a drinker to know the connection between posture
and mood, so he sprawled, he stewed, he half-snoozed as the heat
collected, as the chatter peaked and peaked again, as Ricky ate
monster bubble gum at his ear. Cheese muffins were passed
down to him. Brown apple slices were passed down to him.
Conversation strayed into his space and was trapped. Henrietta
offered to spray his feet with a hose; Henry waved off the treat;
she sprayed elsewhere. Ricky created a ghoulishly green bubble
nearby. Suddenly Henry took one drop past his limit. The
stupor clutched him before he'd even had time to set his glass
back down on the pebbles. The bubble grew closer, paler, larger;
it filled his vision. Rita was enveloped; the elk tree squeezed in ;
Roy entered laughing, telling a serious Henri etta: "Not
to
worry
about me, not to worry." Henry saw with dismay that the not–
quite-sporty Datsun parked beyond the patio had also been
swallowed up; it looked not-quite-capable of driving him out
and away. For one long second Henry believed he was sitting in
a cold tub, at his home on Riverside Drive ... sweating, he came
to and pinpointed the handkerchief in his breast pocket.
"Are you alright?" asked the black and yellow lady.
" He looks unsocial ," advised the purple boy.
"Henry," panted the wife.
Roy had an idea. :'Alright, everyon e give him room," he
