Death of a Busybody [antikvár]

"Nice big lots," said Alison, "two hundred by three hundred. And all the trees left. On Jovenita Canyon Road. No, Sheba!" She rescued her clean stockings and began to put them on."I refuse," said Mendoza from the bathroom, "to live on a street called Little Woman Canyon.""Well, I know, but Get down, Nefertite, not my ear-lings. There were some on Appian Way too." Silence from the bathroom, except for splashing, was not encouraging. "I didn't like the one on Elusive Drive," she said hastily. **Too hilly. And Lulu Glen is too far up.""!Par my vida!'* said Mendoza. "W^o names these places?""I can't imagine," said Alison, removing Bast from her dress on the bed and starting to get into it. Emerging in the middle of a sentence, she added, "On account of the cats. Because almost anywhere else it's illegal to keep more than three, of course. It wouldn't be too much of a drive for you, would it, darling? There were two others at the end of a street called Hasiam Terrace"Possible," said Mendoza. He came out of the bathroom, shirtless, and surveyed her with approval. "I don't know why we're going to build a house. And don't say because I didn't like any of those already built.""Because you can't bring up children in an apartment.""All right, all right. Two. No more. If I had had any idea you harbored these medieval notions""But you can afford more. Not like most people. Oh, damn. Come and fasten this, Luis.""As if that had anything to do with it." He came and fastened it. They both looked at Alison in the mirror and were pleased, from their reflected expressions. Mendoza7