so here she came , thick legs spread , candy-pink in their support hose , one arm clutching her purse to her immense bosom , the other held out for balance , head down , eyes searching for the islands of ashes where some responsible building super had already been out ( jesus and mother mary bless those good men ) , also for the treacherous patches that would defeat her , that would send her whoopsy with her large pink knees flying apart , and down she 'd come on her sit-upon , or maybe on her back , a woman could break her spine , a woman could be paralyzed like poor mrs. bernstein 's daughter that was in the car accident in mamaroneck , such things happened .