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Show 198 "Haven't you been to a doctor? You could at least get them diagnosed. I t might be something serious." " I probably should. Maybe t h a t ' s what I ' l l do, actually. Listen, I'd hate to think we were disturbing your roommate." "He's okay. How long have you been having the symptoms? You looked like you were in real pain." " I don't know. Four or five years. Maybe six. Sometimes i t i s n ' t so bad." "Four or five years! And you haven't done anything about i t all this time?" " I t i s n ' t always there," he said. "Sometimes I don't feel anything for days, then I drink a l o t of coffee and i t comes back. Milk helps a l o t ." "Is that helping?" She nodded toward his empty glass. " I think i t i s . Listen, what I really need to do is l i e down for a minute somewhere, i f that's a l l r i g h t ." "Sure. Come on in the l i v i n g room." She climbed o f f her stool and he followed her back through the doorway. "Here," she said, picking up the elephant from the couch. "Would you l i k e a pillow?" "No, t h a t ' s a l l r i g h t . You're sure we're not going to wake him up or anything." He glanced at the doorway to the vestibule. "He's a very heavy sleeper, poor lamb," she said. "If he's just getting to sleep h e ' l l have trouble sometimes i f there's noise, but once he's asleep he's good and out. He doesn't even hear the alarm clock." She sat down in the chair across the room after tossing the q u i l t onto the f l o o r , the elephant on top of i t . Lorin sat down on the center cushion of the couch, hesitated which end to put his head a t , then decided on the end furthest from the bedroom so he could watch i t . His head propped against the armrest, |