| OCR Text |
Show 285 and when he first noticed it Lorin had thought that was what it was-they were working a seedy neighborhood, they had been turned away by a man in his undershirt who had sat reading a tabloid on his front porch-but it was still there when they were in an air-conditioned delicatessen eating corned-beef sandwiches, and still later when they visited a high-rise office building to keep an appointment with a CPA whose wife had not wanted them to come to the house again. No one said anything, but Lorin was positive the rejections that day were unusually brisk, and he was quite sure, in the case of a woman who at first had welcomed them into her living room and good-naturedly dismissed them when she discovered they were not asking if she knew someone named Norman Church (because it so happened she did)-he was quite sure he saw her nostrils twitch when, chuckling with the elders over her mistake, she showed them the door. The close proximity of his companion made discrimination difficult. When you broke wind in an elevator you knew who was at fault, and you kept your eyes straight ahead or glared at the person next to you, but Lorin could not be absolutely sure until late in the afternoon which of them was the offender in this case. And it was difficult to ask someone with whom you were not on first-name terms if he had perhaps omitted to change his temple garments. Sorenson in any case said nothing all afternoon to suggest he was even aware of the odor, and it was not until he excused himself and went to the men's room while they were stopped for gas and Lorin found himself momentarily left in his own company that Lorin knew who the culprit was. Mortified, he suggested, when Sorenson returned, that they might knock off early; he was feeling a little gamey, he explained; he was not nice to be near, ha ha. Sorenson had been a good sport all day, not said anything, but it would be a favor to everyone if Lorin could just grab a quick bath before their |
