Sublime

the man’s wife was a coal-eater

—Charlotte Clingstone presented a kind of ideal. She was bohemian but accomplished. Worldly but rooted.

Rhonda,

Scylla went into heat and “[neighbor] Quincy Jones’s dogs were barreling under my gate,” Payne said, “and the next thing I knew Scylla’s pregnant.” Seven puppies later, Mike Nichols called. “Puppies?” he asked. “Killer puppies? I’m coming right over.” (He picked one, named it Louis, and took it home.)