        from FUGUE FOR AN OCTOBER AGE                         THE MIRROR  5 
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        says  she  wants.  A  house.  A  garden.   And a man who cares about
        something beyond his ego and his cock."   
             "You mean, I don't?" 
             "I mean, damn it, look at us." 
             "You want to get married?  Okay, let's get married." 
             "And that," she says, "is the absolute worst idea of all.   You 
        said it yourself once; the  only  ones  that would make out would be 
        the lawyers fighting over our bones." 
             "Well what, then?" 
             "Well, nothing.  Let's go eat." 
             I  walk  to where she is standing and draw her close. "You know 
        something," I tell her. "Some things in this life  just  don't  come 
        equipped with answers.  And you and I are two of them." 
             "If  you  say so," she says, pushing herself away from me. "But
        right now I've has enough of this bullshit.  Let's go eat." 
              I return to the washroom to put on my tie.  She  leans against 
        the  doorframe, watching me. "But maybe  we ought to stay away  from 
        each other for a while," she says. "What do you think of that?"        
             "So what would that prove?" 
             "So why does it have to prove anything?  The idea is to give us

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