Formica

0023 (home, counting money)

Home, for me, is a four-bedroom apartment on Bleecker Street, the full second floor over Casale’s grocery. [18-60-19] The old kitchen, you had to watch where you stepped or you stepped down to the ground. [4-185-2] I went to my bedroom and counted the money over and over again. [16-183-4]
“Are you sure you haven’t simply misplaced the money?” [10-172-29]
Annette was disappointed, but Alex seemed not to be. [11-169-7] His expression was very intense. [5-57-6] “Do we have a deal?” he said. [13-155-7]
She shook her head. “No.” [27-181-24]
How else could Alberto suddenly afford to buy his lazy sons computers and the latest games and who was paying for the swimming pool that was being installed in the scrubland beyond the dilapidated hotel? [31-165-10] He lowered the window, repaired to the closet, and got from its top shelf his old rucksack. [8-57-16]
Clutching them tightly, he went out the window, carrying a sleeping bag filed with canned food and extra clothes. [19-54-15]

0070 (office evening)

Evening had come; office workers were homeward bound, moving along under clouds of steaming breath. [8-100-39] The car had Tennessee plates. [11-143-7] I couldn’t help wondering, just then, what thoughts might be passing through Jean’s mind. [5-97-6] I either had to let the opportunity pass me by or admit my ignorance. [13-154-33] And I try not to have a barrel vision. [4-197-27]

0027 (witnessing sex)

I had a secret. [26-49-27] As I was approaching her front door, I saw her, and I looked and saw her with – I didn’t know who the guy was because I couldn’t see the guy, and she was obviously involved in sex. [3-159-26]
“Me too, me too.” [12-93-12] Anna was very appreciative. [5-44-6] She actually laughed. [24-128-29] And she liked to be touched. [20-97-13] Slowly he massaged it in, first her left foot, right into her toes, up to her knees, all round her legs, behind the knees, then started again on her right foot. [6-91-12]
“I bet that goddamned long-cock sonofabitch is out there fucking somebody.” [4-196-39]
“No”, she repeated unconsciously stretching her neck to one side as S’Parva’s fingers probed deep into aching muscles. [17-58-8] For a long, silent moment their hands were joined acoss the green Formica in warm, silent communication. [11-114-14]
“Say hand, Al.” [2-136-4]
“There’s a gouge in the formica,” Al said. [18-2-35]
“Right.” [13-130-4] But then he turned, opened the door and left. [27-178-13]
He was back in fewer than five minutes, holding a black rectangle. [21-89-3]

0071 (honeypot reasoning)

Who can really, without looking, describe the back of his hand? [2-136-11] The drunken fool fell for her honeypot trap like an amateur. [24-31-18] I told Marcus, do me a favor and ease up on Nicole, because whatever’s happening with you guys is really screwing her up. [3-162-39] Nikki was in Roanoke by 2:00. [11-222-20] Yet her body had skipped forwards years. [27-178-7] You could see her heartbeat thumping too rapidly against her chest. [2-390-23]
“I guess my argument is full of holes.” [8-191-33]
“Oh?” she wondered, absently reaching out to massage the other woman’s tense neck muscles. [17-57-26] “Well, it’s all over now.” [13-48-36]

0059 (getting ammunition)

Mr Friend’s basement flat was a rather grim affair. [5-157-11] Lois turned towards the door. [8-66-34] She didn’t like coming back to his place – didn’t like the neighborhood – [14-1-10] the worst goddamned scum. [4-196-23] Yet she didn’t really feel any older now than she had before she ‘grew up’. [27-179-5] One of the empty houses, down near the shopping center, had caught fire and burned almost to the ground before any of the neighbors thought to call the Fire Department. [18-65-31]
They did all the usual things, such as checking the answering machine, punching Redial on the telephone to see the last number Mr. Allen had called, and getting the number of the last call he’d received. [21-44-7]
But Justin had a way of hanging onto any lesson he’d ever learned about staying alive and clear of other peoples’ issues. [11-64-13] He opened the gun cabinet on the wall behind his desk and took out several boxes of ammunition for his 1860 model Starr Double Action Army .44. [13-4-6]
Vitale busied himself arranging the cans, carefully spacing them a few inches apart. [28-58-29]
“It’s a little like skeet shooting,” Larissa said with a laugh. [23-100-11]

0077 (shooting practice)

There was a narrow path that ran round the churchyard, weaving in and out of the graves. [27-43-17] Ned looked dazed as he walked aimlessly around the rock Sherman had chosen for target practice. [28-58-26] Raising his arms into the air, he began to wave them about like some kind of demented animal. [10-100-33]
She chucks her cigarette into the dry grass, watches it flare and then stamps hard with a brown desert boot to extinguish the flame, “Yeah so what?” [29-36-11]

0080 (bar meeting)

“You might say I got to know the night and the day of the … man.” [11-52-20]

I brought my car, parked my car at the southwest corner of 13th and Locust. [15-252-4] It was a place to hide out from the action, a place to wait and see. [13-136-2] It was still misty, but the fog was nothing like as dense as it ad been a few hours earlier. [27-115-1]
Jardine was now in his late forties, tall, untidily assembled, with a face that suggested he might at one time have been a fairly unsuccessful boxer. [2-6-5] The man stopped and looked around. [5-15-17] A beer was probably the least offensive beverage he could get away with, and he ordered one. [8-102-21]
Sooner or later, Barrett’s bound to recognize my finer qualities and invite me out to dinner … a few drinks afterward … and then, who knows? [17-4-30]
He was grinning as he eased himself onto the stool at the darkened bar. [6-60-13] “You know, Mr. Tarver, we don’t like this kind of thing here. [12-77-12] I suppose I should offer you some melodramatic welcome,” the voice continued in the same amicable tone. [23-35-15]

0057 (plateau)

“Make a plan.” [11-134-3]
I don’t reply, and Dave continues. [5-3-18] “We are directly below the plateau; it’s about fifty metres above us.” [25-107-5]

0107 (funeral)

I hate funerals. [26-46-13]

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