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Show 276 steps into the YMCA swimming pool, wearing white pajamas and still with a furrowed brow, and Sorenson raised a hand over his head and baptized him, and the next day the same circle of elders, Lorin included, laid hands on his head and confirmed him a member of the church while Alice watched, thrilled, from the front row. Afterward he stood up and turned, and shook hands with all four elders, Lorin included, and returned to the seat next to his wife, his lower lip stuck out thoughtfully. * * * * * * During the course of many Sunday-afternoon dinners Alice had managed to t e l l Lorin-and Sorenson, when he could be sprung from Richard-one or two pertinent things about herself. She told him, for instance, about her aversion to f l i e s . She could not stand f l i e s . "I mean i f I even know there's one in the same room with me I feel my face start to get all hot," she said. "I'm always afraid i t ' s going to land on me and all I can think of is I want to k i l l i t . I don't like to k i l l things, but God, show me a fly and I ' l l go out of my mind. I mean really, I'm a different person." "Spiders are okay?" asked Lorin. "I hate spiders but I usually don't k i l l them. You know, unless they're on the bedroom wall or something. Usually I make them crawl onto a piece of paper and then I take them outside and shake them into the flowers. No, i t 's just flies mostly. If one ever lands on me I have to go take a bath before I feel clean again. All I can think about is where they've been." "One landed on the rim of the milk pitcher once and she poured the milk down the sink," Richard said. He was talking to Sorenson in the living room about the difference between salvation and exaltation, but couldn't help overhearing Alice and Lorin in the kitchen. |