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Lainie ate a bagged lunch every day at 12:30. Ham or 15
turkey or chicken on white bread, with a fruit and a nov-16
elty cake. She sat on the picnic bench half a block up 17
from the Winter Hotel on a slip of property that was too 18
small to sell. She was wearing a white silk dress that was 19
decorated with prints of giant purple orchids. A single 20
pearl hung from a pendant around her neck. There was a 21
dark freckle on her throat, next to the pearl. I was think-22
ing that that small spot of dark flesh was far more pre-23
cious than some stone from an oyster’s belly.
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“How’s Peaches?” Lainie had regained her composure.
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She’d opened her bag and was peeling back the wax paper 26
on the sandwich to check out the meat.
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“Fine, the last time I talked to her. Her husband’s 28 R
