Section of "Mass" as it appeared in print (Kythryn's thoughts italicized)

              The woman takes Kythryn's hand, pats it gently, and
examines the palm. "Long lifeline."  She winks, then, cane scarring the
floor, maneuvers into the bathroom. Kythryn hesitates outside the door,
listening to the shuffling and muttering inside.
	no no uneasy to hear that
	why?
	She backs away and heads out of the room, toward the rising
hum of talk deeper within the house. Through the kitchen, into the dining
room, to find
	the tables
	the rooms
	quickly filling
	with
	Fried squash and okra, cantaloupe and watermelon freshly sliced,
honeydew pale green and moist.
	with
	"Well they said it was born six months after she was married and it
didn't look any more like him than I do."
	with
	Nicole's face, miniature, perfect, and the stranger beside her;
Jack's swollen red-eyed scowl; Lady serenely and with dignity and grace
setting out paper plates and plastic cups.
	with
	too much too many too all at once
	"Kitty, Kitty,"--clutching at her shoulder, a frizzy blonde she can't
place--"where's that hunk you always bring with you?  One of us drag him off
already?"
	Laughter all around. "Don't think so.  Excuse me--I want to help
out."
	Chicken and dumplings, baked hams glazed with pineapple and honey,
apple upside down cake, peach cobbler.
	Nicole's mother, Deborah, meekly squinting just in front of herself to
keep from being overwhelmed.  And, orbiting the room--she suddenly knows--
Becky, head still, eyes tracing her.
	those eyes
	distrusting distrusted
	becky becky what now
	"Is that Kythryn doing something or just spinning around?"
	all pulling at me go our way not yours
	"So what're you keeping busy with these days, child?"
	"Well I wanted to sign up for some substitute teaching in the fall
but Warren thinks he can arrange for us to be in the Caribbean for
most of October. His job, you know--he knows all the good deals.  I
still may do it, though."
	thats right justify yourself
	"You know I've always thought you should go back and get your
teaching certificate.  That's a career you can really sink your teeth into."
	"Is that right?"
	Green beans with whole young boiled potatoes. steaming corn
bread and biscuits, sliced tomatoes gleaming in glass dishes, strawberry
preserves.
	Grandma, stoop-shoulder in her rocker, seventy-five years "young"
as the brief announcement in the local paper had undoubtedly had it;
Warren entering, reshirted, hands in pockets, amusedly surveying the scene.
	Beef pot pie, homemade vegetable soups, pound cake squat and
yellow already missing slices.
	"Katherine, what can I do to help?"
	"Girl, nothing, not one thing right now--I think we're about read to
get this show on the road."  Then rolls her wild brown eyes and adds from
the side of her mouth: "Or hell, close enough for this gang."
	now that look
	mother had that look time to time
	Katherine taking charge now, to the room:  "Well, I don't think
ya'll can be held back much longer--I already see pieces of cake and
cantaloupe missing.  All in favor say Aye."
	"AYE!"
	"The ayes have it.  I want to say that Mother is glad to see all
of you here today.  It's a beautiful day and seventy-five is a very special
birthday.  I'm going to ask Ray to return grace and go to it."
	each voice i hear i feel pulled
	each mind i touch i feel drawn and where is the line
	drawn
	my line
	which to follow
	the next step the next
	"... for our safe journeys here today, and ask You for our safe
return; for our safe journey through life to this day, and ask for Your Grace
from this day forward.  Most of all, we thank You for blessing Grandma
with health, and for blessing us with her, and with this occasion of her three
quarter century birthday as a day of reunion and rejoicing.  May all in this
room and more assemble in Your Name for her century birthday.  And till
that time may we live as we pray, In Jesus' name, Amen."
	"Amen."
	and till that time
	Warren's voice, close by her ear, "Spy satellite at three o'clock."
	"Huh?"
	"To your right, across the room."
	Then she realized he means Becky, so doesn't return the gaze
she knows is on her.  "Honey!" she hisses.
	He holds up one large palm--I know--and makes his way toward
the tables.
	always
	everyone's version tugging at your own
	"That's right, Samantha," she hears him say, now several feet
away, "my first time here in a couple of years.  Kythryn was still recovering
from hepatitis last year."  To the frizzy blonde who had asked about her "hunk."
	Wedging through the room, Katherine, each hand supporting a
full plate, is clearing the way for Grandma toward the front porch, the old
woman followed too closely by Nicole and her omnipresent friend.  And,
spiraling  toward her, stopping to chat casually along the way, orbit
disintegrating, Becky.
	Kythryn begins jostling toward a table and finds her way blocked
by a stout young piefaced 
redhead with a plateful of dumplings.  "Now you're uh-h-h ..."
	"Priscilla Dearlove."
	"Pardon me?"
	"No--Dearlove's my last name--I'm engaged to Josh."  Then adds,
to Kythryn's stare:  "Katherine's son?"
	"No, no, I know him.  No one had told me about ..."
	"Yes--we ain't set a date yet, but maybe near Christmas."
	but josh dearlove youre only nineteen her youngest
	time
	peoples plans pulling at what is
	without rest
	Down the line, winding between the tables.
	every dish every last one draws the eye or nose
	Plates piling high with mashed potatoes, creamed corn, corn on
the cob, green beans fatback-boiled long hours, pickled beets, fried chicken,
biscuits, yams, and other recipeless things she can neither cook nor grow.
People laugh, pointing at each other's plates, at their own.
	Becky's clear voice startles her:  "Great to see you made it this year."
	"I've only missed one, Becky, and I had to be half-dead to do that.
Great to see you made it for a change."
	She feels Warren behind her and Becky retreats:  "Maybe we'll
get a chance to talk later."
	She glances over her shoulder at him and their eyes connect.
	something sexy
	these moments when no words needed
	endless lines of thought crisscross a second
        He smiles.  Black hair so short these days it bristles, cat's hackles.
She wants to rub it.  He holds up his plate and lemonade:  "Outside?"