Sublime

The boy was as beautiful as Eve.

Single strand of pearls, wild, not cultured. (Worth it, she said. Only the wild ones had souls.)

covet

Roy knew that his mother was a sucker for blue eyes. She had said that to Roy often enough, her hand on the back of Roy’s neck, as she bent to kiss him on the forehead.

The habits and tastes of his parents, which had been those of austere children of Bethesda’s particular God, had been stripped with the wallpaper and carpets, and nothing remained of them now but Thomas himself. It was all exactly as he wanted it to be. The oak table by the window was burnished with decades of meals and work, and shone on fat turne

Stitched among the whorls were so many seed pearls, in such a massed weight, the dress could only have been worn by a strong woman whose love for extravagance and style exceeded the desire for comfort.

custodians

Fred, thinking Lila wasn't paying any attention to him, now put down Better Homes and Gardens, picked up what looked like one hell of a sexy paperback novel, Venus on the Half-shell, by Kilgore Trout.