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Show 200 A t i n y worm of suspicion had popped i t s head up through the thin skin of his imaginings and sniffed the a i r before disappearing to resume tunneling. "For instance he doesn't l i k e i t when I go o f f with a bunch of beatniks to coffee houses either, but t h a t ' s his problem." "Ah," he said. She smiled r e f l e c t i v e l y . "Of course I probably wouldn't have gone the f i r s t time i f we hadn't just had a f i g h t ." "That's too bad," he said. "Oh, he doesn't say anything about my going. Just l i k e he probably wouldn't say anything about i f he came out and found you here. He just sulks for a few days and works late and doesn't look at me when he comes home." "That can be unpleasant," he agreed. "How is your stomach feeling?" she asked. He was rubbing i t with his right hand and t r y i ng not to notice. "A l i t t l e better, I think." "Here, l e t me," she said. She pulled his hand away and applied her fingertips to the spot just under his ribcage and to the l e f t of his xiphoid process. "Right here?" He nodded and she began to massage, in gentle, circular motions with both hands, using just the tips of her fingers. Genial warmth rushed in from adjacent tissues. His stomach f e l t better already. " I don't know why that should help, but i t does," he said. "Sure you do. It stimulates the blood vessels in the area and increases the c i r c u l a t i o n ." He d i d n ' t know why increased c i r c u l a t i on should make i t hurt less but he didn't want to ask since she had j u s t told him he did. She was using the |
