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what drives us nuts. The fact that he's my nemesis isn't really your concern, is
it?" It somehow quieted her.
By afternoon they agreed to put Ganesha in the back yard, under a
Japanese maple Marilyn had planted that summer, surrounded by ornamental
ginger and star jasmine. "With any luck the vines will cover it completely over
in a year or two," she said. Bill took the departure from her morning tirade as a
sign of good humor. He followed her to the yard, carrying what the air bill had
indicated weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. Marilyn sensed his eyes on
her as she opened the kitchen door and guided him down three steps. She
thought he might be noticing that her ass had flattened out over the past two
years of near estrangement, their intimacy grown clinical, efficient.
While Hampton supervised them maneuvering the piece, steadying it
on a pedestal made of broken pieces of slate, Bill and Marilyn resumed position
in the separate corners of their lives. Ceremoniously they handled what might
or might not be junk, what might become a humorous symbol for the worst two
years of their marriage or the final marking of its demise.
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