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Show -181- "I don't know. I just f e l t faint a l l of a sudden." "You do those jobs too f a s t , " she told him. "You should take more time." "Maybe s o , " he replied. But by now his head had cleared, and he answered almost mechanically. She was always t e l l i n g him t h a t . When he cleaned the pool or the yard, he had to stay with i t until he had finished, and she would always say, "Stop and take a rest. You don't have to do i t a l l at once." But If he didn't, he knew how hard i t was to get back to such jobs, which he did more out of necessity than pleasure. Planting, he enjoyed, and watching the young plants grow, but cleaning up, especially at a time when even in California many of the plants were dormant, he considered a necessary e v i l . Even now the rain had brought down the leaves of the live oak on the patio, and they l i t t e r ed the stones like scattered green and gold coins. "What will you have to drink?" he asked as he walked to the bar. "Oh, dear! I don't know? Maybe I shouldn't." "Come one," he begged. "We have a f i r e . I'm just beginning to feel a l i t t l e Christmas s p i r i t ." I "All r i g h t , " she said. "A small one - vodka. Over ice." He could never get her to say, "on the rocks." Even in a bar, she always ordered her drink "over i c e . " It was, he supposed, one of those l i t t l e annoyances people get who have lived together for a long time. He wanted to explain to her, |
