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here.”
    â€œThere!” he yells and grabs the steering wheel and the car swerves and we just miss this deer running across the road.
    â€œJesus!” I screamed. “What are you doing!”
    â€œShit, we missed.”
    â€œYou mean to tell me that you really wanted to hit that deer?”
    â€œNo, but I need one.”
    I let out a sigh and I turn to see Lou yawn and I says, “You ready to go home yet?”
    â€œYeah, I guess it’s getting pretty late. Too bad about that deer, though.”
    â€œThose are the breaks,” I says.
    So, I take Lou home and by the time I get home myself it’s pretty late. I walk into the house and the first thing I hear is Thelma pedaling on her exerciser. I don’t even go into the bedroom. I just walk over to the stereo and put on that Charlie Parker record and listen to that one song over and over. I just can’t seem to get enough of it.
    I get to thinking about the saxophone solo on this here recording and noticing how things get built around one melody. Even when the melody ain’t played at all, somehow it’s there and it’s waiting when the saxophone is finished singing. And that’s just what that saxophone does, it sings.
    I notice all of a sudden that I don’t hear the exerciser anymore and I look around to see Thelma. She stands there for a second and pulls the sleeve of her pajamas across her forehead, then she turns and walks back into the bedroom. I hear her climb into bed and I get up to switch off the stereo. The music is off and I’m heading for the bedroom when I hear Thelma get out of bed and start pedaling again.
    â€œDon’t you think you’re overreacting?” I ask as I walk into the bedroom.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œCould you stop pedaling for a second? Think of Peter, he’s trying to sleep.”
    She stops pedaling and gets off the machine and climbs into bed. I sit on the bed and start to take my shoes off. She lets out a real loud sigh like she wants me to ask her what’s on her mind.
    â€œWhat is it?” I ask.
    â€œNothing.” She’s sitting up in bed.
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œI should have married your brother.”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œAt least he has a normal job.”
    â€œWhat do you mean ‘normal’?” I stand up and pull off my britches and climb into bed.
    â€œI wish you were a dentist like your brother.”
    â€œWho wants to stick his fingers in people’s mouths all day long?”
    â€œAt least you’d be home. You wouldn’t have to go out of town to pull teeth. At least you’d be able to—” She starts crying. “You’re like your mother, you know.”
    I roll over and close my eyes.
    â€œThat’s it, just ignore me.”
    â€œI’m not ignoring you. I’m tired.”
    â€œWell, it’s not my fault. I’m not to blame. There’s nothing wrong with me.”
    â€œOf course it’s not your fault.” I sit up. “Please try to be patient. Please try to understand.”
    â€œUnderstand? Understand? It’s been two months. I’ve been patient.”
    â€œOkay, okay. It’s okay for you to have a headache, but when I say no it’s another story. Is that it?”
    â€œSo, we’re even.”
    â€œJesus.” I roll over and go to sleep and I wake up with a terrible headache. I throw on my robe and walk into the kitchen. It’s late and Peter has gone to school and Thelma’s gone, too. I pour some juice and sit at the table and I start to think about me and Lou Tyler driving around those back roads looking for dead animals. Then I start seeing that vulture Lou’s got hanging over his desk and I get a funny feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. I remember those dogs lying on Lou’s lawn and I picture myself lying there with them. To tell the truth, I think it might be an improvement. Nobody expects nothing from them dogs, nobody