22/04/2026 18:46

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I lifted myhead with a wince, knowing even as I opened my eyes that I was no longerin bed, no longer on the swimming float, no longer on the path betweenthe house and the studio. We stand to lose our primacy in world oil pro-duction. I see men come upfrom New York and New Jersey with their young girls. They were only-60-a week in Hampton Roads, loaded up with a cargo of steel ingots and explosives, and cleared for Cardiff.

In the late afternoon I went down to the store and saw a good-lookingpiece of flounder in the cold-case. Once he was headed back out Lane Forty-two to thehighway, I went into the house. , the polewith the bell on top. That was hard to say, I told him.