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Show 36 It is old habit, not inclination, that restrains him now. "I understand," he says, and it is only partly a lie. He bends over her as she sits in the chair, and places a kiss on the smooth surface of her forehead. Then he moves backward out the door, leaving it just as much ajar as when he came. But in the kitchen, he flattens his hand against the slick sterility of the formica counter, inspects the. merciless surface of the glass pan. He turns the gas on furiously to boil the water for coffee; he watches the flame writhe beneath the underside of the pan, and watches the boiling water dance. He watches it for a long time after the water begins to boil, but eventually he turns the gas off, pours the water onto a dark heap of coffee powder in the bottom of a cup, watches it fill, foam up, and then subside. |