"You can get more knives in that little basket if you put them in point-first," Louise said. Her husband, Armand, was loading the dishwasher.

"I like the handles down," Armand said. "It balances better."

"It shows them point-down in the booklet," Louis said.

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My friends Bentley and Roberta are meeting me here in Curacao. I say friends. I don't have friends actually, don't need them. But there are a few people whose company I find less distastful than others.

Bernadette is here also. Bernadette will be the bait.

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Dad sits across the table from me at Pete's Tavern, on 18th Street, Manhattan. We hear the clanking of the plates and the clinking of the glasses and the rattle of metal flatware.

Dad says: "That doesn't sound like someone you're likely to marry." I have mentioned a woman from my acting class at Herbert Berghoff's acting studio downtown.

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This short story was nominated for a 2003 Pushcart Prize.

.....It was dawn. Roberta stood on the riverbank and stared at a quiet pool upstream. Gentle rapids tumbled into the head of the pool and eddies swirled quetly near the bank. There was a mist on the water but no trout were
rising. .....

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