Thomas Pynchon-The Crying Lot of 49

5/27/2018 Thomas Pynchon-The Crying Lot of 49

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The Crying of Lot 49

A hardcover edition of this book was originally published by J.B. Lippincott Copany.

A portion of this novel was first published inEsquire Magazine under the title !The "orld #This $ne%& the 'lesh #(rs. $edipa (aas%& and the Testaent of

)ierce *nverarity.! Another portion appeared in Cavalier.

T+,C-*/0$'L$T49. Copyright 1 2933& 293 by Thoas )ynchon. All rights reserved. )rinted in the 5nited 6tates of Aerica. /o part of this book

ay be used or reproduced in any anner whatsoever without written perission e7cept in the case of brief 8uotations ebodied in critical articles

and reviews. 'or inforation address +arper -ow& )ublishers& *nc.& 2: ,ast ;rd 6treet& /ew ork& /.. 2::)ublication ?ata

)ynchon& ThoasThe crying of lot 49. @

*. Title. **. Title Crying of lot forty>nine.)6;33. C9 29=3 =2;.4 =>4:92;:>D

#pbk.%9: 92 9< 9; 94 ('C 2: 9 = B 3 4 ; < 2

1$/,suer afternoon (rs $edipa (aas cae hoe fro a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps too

uch kirsch in the fondue to find that she& $edipa& had been naed e7ecutor& or she supposed e7ecutri7& of the

estate of one )ierce *nverarity& a California real estate ogul who had once lost two illion collars in his spare

tie but still had assets nuerous and tangled enough to ake the Eob of sorting it all out ore than honorary.

$edipa stood in the living roo& stared at by the greenish dead eye of the TF tube& spoke the nae of 0od& tried to

feel as

drunk as possible. But this did not work. 6he thought of a hotel roo in (aGatlan whose door had Eust been slaed&

it seeed forever& waking up two hundred birds down in the lobbyH a sunrise over the library slope at Cornell

5niversity that nobody out on it had seen because the slope faces westH a dry& disconsolate tune fro the fourth

oveent of the Bartok Concerto for $rchestraH a whitewashed bust of Jay 0ould that )ierce kept over the bed on a shelf

so narrow for it shed always had the hovering fear it would soeday topple on the. "as that how hed died& she wondered&

aong dreas& crushed by the only ikon in the houseI That only ade her laugh& out loud and helpless oure so sick&

$edipa& she told herself& or the roo& which knew.

The letter was fro the law fir of "arpe& "ist>full& ubitschek and (c(ingus& of Los Angeles& and signed by

soebody naed (etGger. *t said )ierce had died back in the spring& and theyd only Eust now found the will. (etGger was

to act as co>e7ecutor and special counsel in the event of any involved litigation. $edipa had been naed also to e7ecute

the will in a codicil dated a year ago. 6he tried to think back to whether anything unusual had happened around then.

Through the rest of the afternoon& through her trip to the arket in downtown inneret>Aong>The>)ines to buy ricotta

and listen to the (uGak #today she cae through the bead>curtained entrance around bar 4 of the 'ort "ayne

6ettecento ,nsebles varioru recording of the Fivaldi aGoo Concerto& Boyd Beaver& soloist%H then through the

sunned gathering of her arEora and sweet basil fro the herb garden& reading of book reviews in the latest

Scientific American, into the layering of a lasagna& garlicking of a bread& tearing up of roaine leaves& eventually&

oven on& into the i7ing of the twilights whiskey sours against the arrival of her husband& "endell #!(ucho!% (aas

fro work& she wondered& wondered& shuffling back through a fat deckful of days which seeed #wouldnt she be first

to adit itI% ore or less identical& or all pointing the sae way subtly like a conEurers deck& any odd one readily clear

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to a trained eye. *t took her till the iddle of +untley and Brinkley to reeber that last year at three or so one

orning there had coe this long>distance call& fro where she would never know #unless now hed left a diary% by

a voice beginning in heavy 6lavic tones as second secretary at the Transyl>vanian Consulate& looking for an escaped batH

odulated to coic>/egro& then on into hostile )achuco dialect& full of chingas and ariconesH then a 0estapo

officer asking her in shrieks did she have relatives in 0erany and finally his Laont Cranston voice& the one hed

talked in all the way down to (aGatlan. !)ierce& please&! shed anaged to get in& !* thought we hadKK!

!But (argo&! earnestly& !*ve Eust coe fro Coissioner "eston& and that old an in the fun house was

urdered by the sae blowgun that killed )rofessor uackenbush&! or soething.!'or 0ods sake&! she said. (ucho had rolled over and was looking at her.

!"hy dont you hang up on hi&! (ucho suggested& sensibly.

!* heard that&! )ierce said. !* think its tie "endell (aas had a little visit fro The 6hadow.! 6ilence&

positive and thorough& fell. 6o it was the last of his voices she ever heard. Laont Cranston. That phone line could

have pointed any direction& been any length. *ts 8uiet abiguity shifted over& in the onths after the call& to what had

been revived eories of his face& body& things hed given her& things she had now and then pretended not tove heard

hi say. *t took hi over& and to the verge of being forgotten. The shadow waited a year before visiting. But now

there was (etGgers letter. +ad )ierce called last year then to tell her about this codicilI $r had he decided on it later&

soehow because of her annoyance and (uchos indifferenceI 6he felt e7posed& finessed& put down. 6he had never

e7ecuted a will in her life& didnt know where to begin& didnt know how to tell the law fir in L. A. that she didnt

know where to begin.

!(ucho& baby&! she cried& in an access of helplessness.

(ucho (aas& hoe& bounded through the screen door. !Today was another defeat&! he began.

!Let e tell you&! she also began. But let (ucho go first.

+e was a disk Eockey who worked further along the )eninsula and suffered regular crises of conscience out his

profession. !* dont believe in any of it& $ed&! he could usually get out. !* try& * truly cant&! way down there& further

down perhaps than she could reach& so that such ties often brought her near panic. *t ight have been the sight of

her so about to lose control that seeed to bring hi back up.

!oure too sensitive.! eah& there was so uch else she ought to be saying also& but this was what cae out. *t

was true& anyway. 'or a couple years hed been a used car salesan and so hyperaware of what thatprofession had

coe to ean that working hours were

e78uisite torture to hi. (ucho shaved his upper lip every orning three ties with& three ties against the grain

to reove any reotest breath of a oustache& new blades he drew blood invariably but kept at itH bought allnatural>shoulder suits& then went to a tailor to have the lapels ade yet ore abnorally narrow& on his hair used only

water& cobing it like Jack Leon to throw the further off. The sight of sawdust& even pencil shavings& ade hi

wince& his own kind being known to use it for hushing sick transissions& and though he dieted he could still not as

$edipa did use honey to sweeten his coffee for like all things viscous it distressed hi& recalling too poignantly what is

often i7ed with otor oil to ooGe dishonest into gaps between piston and cylinder wall. +e walked out of a

party one night because soebody used the word !creapuff&! it seeed aliciously& in his hearing. The an was a

refugee +ungarian pastry cook talking shop& but there was your (ucho thin>skinned.

et at least he had believed in the cars. (aybe to e7cess how could he not& seeing people poorer than hi coe

in& /egro& (e7ican& cracker& a parade seven days a week& bringing the ost godawful of trade>ins otoriGed& etal

e7tensions of theselves& of their failies and what their whole lives ust be like& out there so naked for

anybody& a stranger like hiself& to look at& frae cockeyed& rusty underneath& fender repainted in a shade Eust off

enough to depress the value& if not (ucho hiself& inside selling hopelessly of children& superarket booGe& two&

soeties three generations of cigarette sokers& or only of dustK and when the cars were swept out you had to look

at the actual residue of these lives& and there was no way of

telling what things had been truly refused #when so little he supposed cae by that out of fear ost of it had to betaken and kept% and what had siply #perhaps tragically% been lost clipped coupons proising savings of .: or .2:& trading staps& pink flyers advertising specials at the arkets& butts& tooth>shy cobs& help>wanted ads&ellow )ages torn fro the phone book& rags of old underwear or dresses that already were period costues& forwiping your own breath off the inside of a windshield with so you could see whatever it was& a ovie& a woan orcar you coveted& a cop who ight pull you over Eust for drill& all the bits and pieces coated uniforly& like a salad ofdespair& in a gray dressing of ash& condensed e7haust& dust& body wastesKit ade hi sick to look& but he had to look. *fit had been an outright Eunkyard& probably he could have stuck things out& ade a career the violence that had caused each


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wreck being infre8uent enough& far enough away fro hi& to be iraculous& as each death& up till the oent ofour own& is iraculous. But the endless rituals of trade>in& week after week& never got as far as violence or blood&and so were too plausible for the ipressionable (ucho to take for long. ,ven if enough e7posure to the unvarying graysickness had soehow anaged to iuniGe hi& he could still never accept the way each owner& each shadow& filed inonly to e7change a dented& alfunctioning version of hiself for another& Eust as futureless& autootive proEection ofsoebody elses life. As if it were the ost natural thing. To (ucho it was horrible. ,ndless& convoluted incest.

$edipa couldnt understand how he could still get so upset even now. By the tie he arried her hed already

been two years at the station& C5'& and the lot on the pallid& roaring arterial was far behind hi& like the6econd "orld or orean "ars were for older husbands. (aybe& 0od help her& he should have been in a war& Japs intrees& rauts in Tiger tanks& gooks with trupets in the night he ight have forgotten sooner than whatever itwas about the lot that had stayed so alaringly with hi for going on five years. 'ive years. ou cofort thewhen they wake pouring sweat or crying out in the language of bad dreas& yes& you hold the& they cal down& oneday they lose it she knew that. But when was (ucho going to forgetI 6he suspected the disk Eockey spot #whichhed got through his good buddy the C5' advertising anager& whod visited the lot once a week& the lotbeing a sponsor% was a way of letting the Top and>fourth for the bridge.! Chuckled aridly. The bridge& die Brucke& being his pet nae for

the e7perient he was helping the counity hospital run on effects of L6?>line& psilocybin& and relateddrugs on a large saple of surburban housewives. The bridge inward. !"hen can you let us fit you into our schedule.!

!/o&! she said& !you have half a illion others to choose fro. *ts three in the orning.!!"e want you.! +anging in the air over her bed she now beheld the well>known portrait of 5ncle that appears in

front of all our post offices& his eyes gleaing unhealthily& his sunken yellow cheeks ost violently rouged& his fingerpointing between her eyes. * want you. 6he had never asked ?r +ilarius why& being afraid of all he ight answer.

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!* a having a hallucination now& * dont need drugs for that.!!?ont describe it&! he said 8uickly. !"ell. "as there anything else you wanted to talk about.! !?id * call youI!!* thought so&! he said& !* had this feeling. /ot telepathy. But rapport with a patient is a curious thing soeties.!

!/ot this tie.! 6he hung up. And then couldnt get to sleep. But would be daned if shed take the capsules hed

given her. Literally daned. 6he didnt want to get hooked in any way& shed told hi that. !6o&! he shrugged& !one you are not hookedI Leave then. oure cured.!

6he didnt leave. /ot that the shrink held any dark power over her. But it was easier to stay. "hod know the day

she was curedI /ot hi& hed aditted that hiself. !)ills are different&! she pleaded. +ilarius only ade a face at her&one hed ade before. +e was full of these delightful lapses fro orthodo7y. +is theory being that a face is syetricallike a -orschach blot& tells a story like a TAT picture& e7cites a response like a suggested word& so why not. +eclaied to have once cured a case of hysterical blindness with his nuber ;& the !'u>(anchu! #any of the faceshaving like 0eran syphonies both a nuber and nicknae%& which involved slanting the eyes up with the inde7fingers& enlarging the nostrils with the iddle fingers& pulling the outh wide with the pinkies and protruding thetongue. $n +ilarius it was truly alaring. And in fact& as $edipas 5ncle 6a hallucination faded& it was this 'u>(anchu face that cae dissolving in to replace it and stay with her for what was left of the hours before dawn. *t puther in hardly any shape to see -osean.

But -osean had also spent a sleepless night& brooding over the )erry (ason television progra the eveningbefore& which his wife was fond of but toward which -osean cherished a fierce abivalence& wanting at once to be asuccessful trial lawyer like )erry (ason and& since this was ipossible& to destroy )erry (ason by underining hi.

$edipa walked in ore or less by surprise to catch her trusted faily lawyer stuffing with guilty haste a wad ofdifferent>siGed and colored papers into a desk drawer. 6he knew it was the

rough draft of The Profession v. Perry Mason, A Notsohy!othetical "n#ictment, and had been in progress for as long asthe TF show had been on the air.

!ou didnt use to look guilty& as * reeber&! $edipa said. They often went to the sae group therapysessions& in a car pool with a photographer fro )alo Alto who thought he was a volleyball. !Thats a good sign&

isnt itI!

!ou ight have been one of )erry (asons spies&! said -osean. After thinking a oent he added& !+a& ha.!

!+a& ha&! said $edipa. They looked at each other. !* have to e7ecute a will&! she said.

!$h& go ahead then&! said -osean& !dont let e keep you.!

!/o&! said $edipa& and told hi all.

!"hy would he do a thing like that&! -osean puGGled& after reading the letter.!ou ean dieI!!/o&! said -osean& !nae you to help e7ecute it.!!+e was unpredictable.! They went to lunch. -osean tried to play footsie with her under the table. 6he was

wearing boots& and couldnt feel uch of anything. 6o& insulated& she decided not to ake any fuss.!-un away with e&! said -osean when the

coffee cae.!"hereI! she asked. That shut hi up.Back in the office& he outlined what she was in for learn intiately the books and the business& go through probate&

collect all debts& inventory the assets& get an appraisal of the estate& decide what to li8uidate andwhat to hold on to& pay off clais& s8uare away ta7es& distribute legacies . . .

!+ey&! said $edipa& !cant * get soebody to do it foreI!!(e&! said -osean& !soe of it& sure. But arent you even interestedI!!*n whatI!

!*n what you ight find out.!

As things developed& she was to have all anner of revelations. +ardly about )ierce *nverarity& or herselfH butabout what reained yet had soehow& before this& stayed away. There had hung the sense of buffering& insulation& shehad noticed the absence of an intensity& as if watching a ovie& Eust perceptibly out of focus& that the proEectionistrefused to fi7. And had also gently conned herself into the curious& -apunGel>like role of a pensive girl soehow&agically& prisoner aong the pines and salt fogs of inneret& looking for soebody to say hey& let down yourhair. "hen it turned out to be )ierce shed happily pulled out the pins and curlers and down it tubled in itswhispering& dainty avalanche& only when )ierce had got aybe halfway up& her lovely hair turned& through soe

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sinister sorcery& into a great unanchored wig& and down he fell& on his ass. But dauntless& perhaps using one of hisany credit cards for a shi& hed slipped the lock on her tower door and coe up the conchlike stairs& which& hadtrue guile coe ore naturally to hi& hed have done to begin with. But all that had then gone on between the hadreally never escaped the confineent of that tower. *n (e7ico City they soehow wandered into an e7hibition ofpaintings by the beautiful 6panish e7ile -eedies Faro in the central painting of a triptych& titled !Bordando el (antoTerrestre&! were a nuber of frail girls with heart>shaped faces& huge eyes& spun>gold hair& prisoners in the top rooof a circular tower& ebroidering a kind of tapestry which spilled out the slit windows and into a void& seeking

hopelessly to fill the void for all the other buildings and creatures& all the waves& ships and forests of the earthwere contained in this tapestry& and the tapestry was the world. $edipa& perverse& had stood in front of thepainting and cried. /o one had noticedH she wore dark green bubble shades. 'or a oent shed wondered if theseal around her sockets were tight enough to allow the tears siply to go on and fill up the entire lens space and neverdry. 6he could carry the sadness of the oent with her that way forever& see the world refracted through thosetears& those specific tears& as if indices as yet unfound varied in iportant ways fro cry to cry. 6he had looked down at herfeet and known& then& because of a painting& that what she stood on had only been woven together a couplethousand iles away in her own tower& was only by accident known as (e7ico& and so )ierce had taken her away fronothing& thered been no escape. "hat did she so desire escape froI 6uch a captive aiden& having plenty of tie tothink& soon realiGes that her tower& its height and architecture& are like her ego only incidental that what really keepsher where she is is agic& anonyous and alignant& visited on her fro outside and for no reason at all. +aving noapparatus e7cept gut fear and feale cunning to e7aine this forless agic& to understand how it works& how to

easure its field strength& count its lines of force& she ay fall back on superstition& or take up a useful hobby likeebroidery& or go ad& or arry a disk Eockey. *f the tower is everywhere and the knight of deliverance no proofagainst its agic& what elseI

of>

way& lined by auto lots& escrow services& drive>ins& sall office buildings and factories whose address nubers were in the

: and then =:&:::s. 6he had never known nubers to run so high. *t seeed unnatural. To her left appeared a pro>

longed scatter of wide& pink buildings& surrounded by iles of fence topped with barbed wire and interrupted now and

then by guard towers soon an entrance whiGGed by& two si7ty>foot issiles on either side and the nae $$?/,

lettered conservatively on each nose cone. This was 6an /arcisos big source of eployent& the 0alactronics ?ivision

of oyodyne& *nc.& one of the giants of the aerospace industry. )ierce& she happened to know& had owned a large block of

shares& had been soehow involved in negotiating an understanding with the county ta7 assessor to lure oyodyne here

in the first place. *t was part& he e7plained& of being a founding father.

Barbed wire again gave way to the failiar parade of ore beige& prefab& cinderblock office achine distributors&sealant akers& bottled gas works& fastener factories& warehouses& and whatever. 6unday had sent the all into silence

and paralysis& all but an occasional real estate office or truck stop. $edipa resolved to pull in at the ne7t otel she saw&

however ugly& stillness and four walls having at soe point becoe preferable to this illusion of speed& freedo&

wind in your hair& unreeling landscapeKit wasnt. "hat the road really was& she fancied& was this hypoderic

needle& inserted soewhere ahead into the vein of a freeway& a vein nourishing the ainliner L.A.& keeping it

happy& coherent& protected fro pain& or whatever passes& with a city& for pain. But were $edipa soe single elted

crystal of urban horse& L.A.& really& would be no less turned on for her absence.

6till& when she got a look at the ne7t otel& she hesitated a second. A representation in painted sheet etal of a

nyph holding a white blosso towered thirty feet into the airH the sign& lit up despite the sun& said !,cho Courts.!

The face of the nyph was uch like $edipas& which didnt startle her so uch as a concealed blower syste that

kept the nyphs gauGe chiton in constant agitation& revealing enorous verilion>tipped breasts and long pink thighs at

each flap. 6he was siling a lipsticked and public sile& not 8uite a hookers but nowhere near that of any nyph piningaway with love either. $edipa pulled into the lot& got out and stood for a oent in the hot sun and the dead>still

air& watching the artificial windstor overhead toss gauGe in five>foot e7cursions. -eebering her idea about a slow

whirlwind& words she couldnt hear.

The roo would be good enough for the tie she had to stay. *ts door opened on a long courtyard with a swiing

pool& whose surface that day was flat& brilliant with sunlight. At the far end stood a fountain& with another nyph.

/othing oved. *f people lived behind the other doors or watched through the windows gagged each with its roaring

air>conditioner& she couldnt see the. The anager& a drop>out naed (iles& aybe 23 with a Beatle haircut and a

lapelless& cuffless& one>button ohair suit& carried her bags and sang to hiself& possibly to her

(*L,666$/0 Toofat to $rug,That%s &hat you tell me all the time,

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'hen you really try%n% to !ut me #o&n, But " % m hi!,So close your (ig fat li!, )eah, (a(y," may (e too fat to $rug, But at least " ain%t too slim to 6wi.

!*ts lovely&! said $edipa& !but why do you sing with an ,nglish accent when you dont talk that wayI!

!*ts this group * in&! (iles e7plained& !the )aranoids. "ere new yet. $ur anager says we should sing like

that. "e watch ,nglish ovies a lot& for the accent.!

!(y husbands a disk Eockey&! $edipa trying to be helpful& !its only a thousand>watt station& but if you had

anything like a tape * could give it to hi to plug.! (iles closed the door behind the and started in with theshifty eye. !*n return for whatI! (oving in on her. !?o you want what * think you wantI This is the )ayola id

here& you know.! $edipa picked up the nearest weapon& which happened to be the rabbit>ear antenna off the

TF in the corner. !$h&! said (iles& stopping. !ou hate e too.! ,yes bright through his bangs.

!ou are a paranoid&! $edipa said. !* have a sooth young body&! said (iles& !* thought you older chicks went for

that.! +e left after shaking her down for four bits for carrying the bags.

That night the lawyer (etGger showed up. +e turned out to be so good>looking that $edipa thought at first

They& soebody up there& were putting her on. *t had to be an actor. +e stood at her door& behind hi the oblong pool

shiering silent in a ild diffusion of light fro the nighttie sky& saying& !(rs (aas&! like a reproach. +is enorous

eyes& labent& e7travagantly lashed& siled out at her wickedlyH she looked around hi for reflectors& icrophones&

caera cabling& but there was only hiself and a debonair bottle of 'rench BeauEolais& which he claied tove

suggled last year into California& this rollicking lawbreaker& past the frontier guards.

!6o hey&! he urured& !after scouring otels all day to find you& * can coe in there& cant *I!

$edipa had planned on nothing ore involved that evening than watching Bonanza on the tube. 6hed shifted

into stretch deni slacks and a shaggy black sweater& and had her hair all the way down. 6he knew she looked pretty

good. !Coe in&! she said& !but * only have one glass.!

!*&! the gallant (etGger let her know& !can drink out of the bottle.! +e cae in and sat on the floor& in his suit.

$pened the bottle& poured her a drink& began to talk. *t presently cae out that $edipa hadnt been so far off& thinking it

was an actor. 6oe twenty>odd years ago& (etGger had been one of those child ovie stars& perforing under the

nae of Baby *gor. !(y other&! he announced bitterly& !was really out to kasher e& boy& like a piece of beef on

the sink& she wanted e drained and white. Ties * wonder&! soothing down the hair at the back of his head& !if she

succeeded. *t scares e. ou know what others like that turn their ale children into.!

!ou certainly dont look&! $edipa began& then had second thoughts.

(etGger flashed her a big wry couple rows of teeth. !Looks dont ean a thing any ore&! he said. !* live insidey looks& and * never sure. The possibility haunts e.!

!And how often&! $edipa in8uired& now aware it was all words& !has that line of approach worked for you&

Baby *gorI!

!?o you know&! (etGger said& !*nverarity only entioned you to e once.! !"ere you closeI! !/o. * drew uphis will. ?ont you want to know what he saidI!

!/o&! said $edipa& and snapped on the television set. $nto the screen blooed the iage of a child of

indeterinate se7& its bare legs pressed awkward together& its shoulder>length curls ingling with the shorter hair

of a 6t Bernard& whose long tongue& as $edipa watched& began to swipe at the childs rosy cheeks& aking the child

wrinkle up its nose appealingly and say& !Aw& (urray& coe on& now& youre getting e all wet.!

!Thats e& thats e&! cried (etGger& staring& !good 0od.!

!"hich oneI! asked $edipa. !That ovie was called&! (etGger snapped his fingers& *Cashiere#.*!About you and your other.! !About this kid and his father& whos drued out of the British Ary for cowardice& only

hes covering up for a friend& see& and to redee hiself he and the kid follow the old regient to 0allipoli& where the

father soehow builds a idget subarine& and every week they slip through the ?ardanelles into the 6ea of

(arara and torpedo the Turkish erchanten& the father& son& and 6t Bernard. The dog sits on periscope watch& and

barks if he sees anything.!

$edipa was pouring wine. !oure kidding.! !Listen& listen& heres where * sing.! And sure enough& the child& and dog&

and a erry old 0reek fisheran who had appeared fro nowhere with a Gither& now all stood in front of phony>

?odecanese process footage of a seashore at sunset& and the kid sang.

BAB*0$-66$/0

%+ainst the un an# the Tur-, never once #o &e shir-, My #a##y, my #oggie an# me.


8/56

Through the !erilous years, li-e the Three Mus-eteers, 'e &ill stic- ust as close as can (e. Soon our su(%s !erisco!e%ll aimfor Constantino!le, As again &e set ho!eful to sea/

0nce more unto the (reach, for those (oys on the (each,

1ust my #a##y, my #oggie an# me.

Then there was a usical bridge& featuring the fisheran and his instruent& then the young (etGger took it fro the

top while his aging double& over $edipas protests& sang harony.

,ither he ade up the whole thing& $edipa thought suddenly& or he bribed the engineer over at the local station to runthis& its all part of a plot& an elaborate& seduction&!lot. $ (etGger. !ou didnt sing along&! he observed. !* didnt -no&,*

$edipa siled. $n cae a loud coercial for 'angoso Lagoons& a new housing developent west of here.

!$ne of *nveraritys interests&! (etGger noted. *t was to be laced by canals with private landings for power

boats& a floating social hall in the iddle of an artificial lake& at the botto of which lay restored galleons& iported

fro the BahaasH Atlantean fragents of coluns and frieGes fro the CanariesH real huan skeletons fro *talyH

giant clashells fro *ndonesia>all for the entertainent of 6cuba enthusiasts. A ap of the place flashed onto the

screen& $edipa drew a sharp breath& (etGger on the chance it ight be for hi looked over. But shed only been

reinded of her look downhill this noontie. 6oe iediacy was there again& soe proise of hierophany printed

circuit& gently curving streets& private access to the water& Book of the ?ead. . . .

Before she was ready for it& back cae Cashiere#. The little subarine& naed the !Justine! after the dead

other& was at the 8uai& singling up all lines. A sall crowd was seeing it off& aong the the old fisheran&

and his daughter& a leggy& ringletted nyphet who& should there be a happy ending& would end up with (etGgerH an,nglish issionary nurse with a nice build on her& who would end up with (etGgers fatherH and even a feale

sheepdog with eyes for (urray the 6t Bernard.

!$h& yeah&! (etGger said& !this is where we have trouble in the /arrows. *ts a bitch because of the epheGinefields& but Jerry has also recently hung this net& this gigantic net& woven out of cable < l23 inches thick.!

$edipa refilled her wine glass. They lay now& staring at the screen& flanks Eust lightly touching. There caefro the TF set a terrific e7plosion. !(inesM! cried (etGger& covering his head and rolling away fro her. !?addy&!blubbered the (etGger in the tube& !* scared.! The inside of the idget sub was chaotic& the dog galloping to and froscattering saliva that ingled with the spray fro a leak in the bulkhead& which the father was now plugging with hisshirt. !$ne thing we can do&! announced the father& !go to the botto& try to get un#er the net.!

!-idiculous&! said (etGger. !Theyd built a gate init& so 0eran 5>boats could get through to attack the British

fleet. All our , class subs siply used that gate.!!+ow do you know thatI!!"asnt * thereI!

!But&! began $edipa& then saw how they were suddenly out of wine.

!Aha&! said (etGger& fro an inside coat pocket producing a bottle of te8uila.

!/o leonsI! she asked& with ovie>gaiety. !/o saltI!!A tourist thing. ?id *nverarity use leons when you were thereI!

!+ow did you know we were thereI! 6he watched hi fill her glass& growing ore anti>(etGger as the

level rose.!+e wrote it off that year as a business e7pense. * did his ta7 stuff.!

!A cash ne7us&! brooded $edipa& !you and )erry (ason& two of a kind& its all you know about& you

shysters.!!But our beauty lies&! e7plained (etGger& !in this e7tended capacity for convolution. A lawyer in a courtroo& in

front of any Eury& becoes an actor& rightI -ayond Burr is an actor& ipersonating a lawyer& who in front of a Eurybecoes an actor. (e& * a forer actor who becae a lawyer. Theyve done the pilot fil of a TF series& in fact&based loosely on y career& starring y friend (anny ?i )resso& a one>tie lawyer who 8uit his fir to becoe anactor. "ho in this pilot plays e& an actor becoe a lawyer reverting periodically to being an actor. The fil isin an air>conditioned vault at one of the +ollywood studios& light cant fatigue it& it can be repeated endlessly.!

!oure in trouble&! $edipa told hi& staring at the tube& conscious of his thigh& war through his suit and her

slacks. )resently

!The Turks are up there with searchlights&! he said& pouring ore te8uila& watching the little subarine fill

=


9/56

up& !patrol boats& and achine guns. ou want to bet on whatll happenI!

!$f course not&! said $edipa& !the ovies ade.! +e only siled back. !$ne of your endless repetitions.!

!But you still dont know&! (etGger said. !ou havent seen it.! *nto the coercial break now roared adeafening ad for Beaconsfield Cigarettes& whose attractiveness lay in their filters use of bone charcoal& the very best kind.

!Bones of whatI! wondered $edipa.!*nverarity knew. +e owned 2N of the filter process.!

!Tell e.!

!6oeday. -ight now its your last chance to place your bet. Are they going to get out of it& or notI!6he felt drunk. *t occurred to her& for no reason& that the plucky trio ight not get out after all. 6he had no way

to tell how long the ovie had to run. 6he looked at her watch& but it had stopped. !This is absurd&! she said& !ofcourse theyll get out.!

!+ow do you knowI!

!All those ovies had happy endings.!

!AllI!

!(ost.!

!That cuts down the probability&! he told her& sug.

6he s8uinted at hi through her glass. !Then give e odds.!

!$dds would give it away.!

!6o&! she yelled& aybe a bit rattled& !* bet a bottle of soething. Te8uila& all rightI That you didnt ake it.!'eeling the words had been conned out of her.

That * didnt ake it.! +e pondered. !Another bottle tonight would put you to sleep&! he decided. !/o.!!"hat do you want to bet& thenI! 6he knew. 6tubborn& they watched each others eyes for what seeed five

inutes. 6he heard coercials chasing one another into and out of the speaker of the TF. 6he grew ore and oreangry& perhaps Euiced& perhaps only ipatient for the ovie to coe back on.

!'ine then&! she gave in at last& trying for a brittle voice& !its a bet. "hatever youd like. That you dont ake it.That you all turn to carrion for the fish at the botto of the ?ardanelles& your daddy& your doggie& and you.!

!'air enough&! drawled (etGger& taking her hand as if to shake on the bet and kissing its pal instead& sending the

dry end of his tongue to graGe briefly aong her fates furrows& the changeless salt hatchings of her identity. 6he

wondered then if this were really happening in the sae way as& say& her first tie in bed with )ierce& the dead an. But

then the ovie cae back.

The father was huddled in a shell hole on the steep cliffs of the AnGac beachhead& Turkish shrapnel flying all over

the place. /either Baby *gor nor (urray the dog were in evidence. !/ow what the hell&! said $edipa.

!0olly&! (etGger said& !they ust have got the reels screwed up.!

!*s this before or afterI! she asked& reaching for the te8uila bottle& a ove that put her left breast in the region of(etGgers nose. The irrepressibly coic (etGger ade cross>eyes before replying& !That would be telling.!

!Coe on.! 6he nudged his nose with the padded tip of her bra cup and poured booGe. !$r the bets off.!

!/ope&! (etGger said.

!At least tell e if thats his old regient& there.!

!0o ahead&! said (etGger& !ask 8uestions. But for each answer& youll have to take soething off. "ell call it6trip Botticelli.!

$edipa had a arvelous idea !'ine&! she told hi& !but first *ll Eust slip into the bathroo for a second.Close your eyes& turn around& dont peek.! $n the screen the !-iver Clyde&! a collier carrying el>Bahr in an unearthly silence. !This is it& en&! a phony British accent was heard to whisper. 6uddenly a hostof Turkish rifles on shore opened up all together& and the assacre began.

!* know this part&! (etGger told her& his eyes s8ueeGed shut& head away fro the set. !'or fifty yards out the seawas red with blood. They dont show that.! $edipa skipped into the bathroo& which happened also to have a walk>in closet& 8uickly undressed and began putting on as uch as she could of the clothing shed brought with her si7 pairsof panties in assorted colors& girdle& three pairs of nylons& three brassieres& two pairs stretch slacks& four half>slips& one blacksheath& two suer dresses& half doGen A>line skirts& three sweaters& two blouses& 8uilted wrapper& baby blue peignoir andold $rion uu>uu. Bracelets then& scatter pins& earrings& a pendant. *t all seeed to take hours to put on and shecould hardly walk when she was finished. 6he ade the istake of looking at herself in the full>length irror& saw a

9


10/56

beach ball with feet& and laughed so violently she fell over& taking a can of hair spray on the sink with her. The can hitthe floor& soething broke& and with a great outsurge of pressure the stuff co>enced atoiGing& propelling the can swiftly about the bathroo. (etGger rushed in to find $edipa rolling around&trying to get back on her feet& aid a great sticky iasa of fragrant lac8uer. !$h& for )etes sake&! he said in his Baby*gor voice. The can& hissing alignantly& bounced off the toilet and whiGGed by (etGgers right ear& issing by aybe a8uarter of an inch. (etGger hit the deck and cowered with $edipa as the can continued its high>speed caroingH frothe other roo cae a slow& deep crescendo of naval bobardent& achine>gun& howitGer and sall>ars fire&

screas and chopped>off prayers of dying infantry. 6he looked up past his eyelids& into the staring ceiling light& her field ofvision cut across by wild& flashing overflights of the can& whose pressure seeed ine7haustible. 6he was scared butnowhere near sober. The can knew where it was going& she sensed& or soething fast enough& 0od or a digitalachine& ight have coputed in advance the cople7 web of its travelH but she wasnt fast enough& and knewonly that it ight hit the at any oent& at whatever clip it was doing& a hundred iles an hour. !(etGger&! sheoaned& and sank her teeth into his upper ar& through the sharkskin. ,verything selled like hair spray. The can col>lided with a irror and bounced away& leaving a silvery& reticulated bloo of glass to hang a second before it all fellEingling into the sinkH Gooed over to the enclosed shower& where it crashed into and totally destroyed a panelof frosted glassH thence around the three tile walls& up to the ceiling& past the light& over the two prostrate bodies& aidits own whoosh and the buGGing& distorted uproar fro the TF set. 6he could iagine no end to itH yet presently the candid give up in id>flight and fall to the floor& about a foot fro $edipas nose. 6he lay watching it.

!Bliey&! soebody rearked. !Coo.! $edipa took her teeth out of (etGger& looked around and saw in the

doorway (iles& the kid with the bangs and ohair suit& now ultiplied by four. *t seeed to be the group hedentioned& the )aranoids. 6he couldnt tell the apart& three of the were carrying electric guitars& they all had theirouth open. There also appeared a nuber of girls faces& gaGing through arpits and around angles of knees.!Thats kinky&! said one of the girls.

!Are you fro LondonI! another wanted to know !*s that a London thing youre doingI! +air spray hung likefog& glass twinkled all over the floor. !Lord love a duck&! suariGed a boy holding a passkey& and $edipa decidedthis was (iles. ?eferent& he began to narrate for their entertainent a surfer orgy he had been to the week before&involving a five>gallon can of kidney suet& a sall autoobile with a sun roof& and a trained seal.

!* sure this pales by coparison&! said $edipa& whod succeeded in rolling over& !so why dont you all Eust& youknow& go outside. And sing. /one of this works without ood usic. 6erenade us.!

!(aybe later&! invited one of the other )aranoids shyly& !you could Eoin us in the pool.!

!?epends how hot it gets in here& gang&! winked Eolly $edipa. The kids filed out& after plugging e7tension cordsinto all available outlets in the other roo and leading the in a bundle out a window.

(etGger helped her stagger to her feet. !Anyone for 6trip BotticelliI! *n the other roo the TF was

blaring a coercial for a Turkish bath in downtown 6an /arciso& wherever downtown was& called +ogans 6eraglio.

!*nverarity owned that too&! (etGger said. !?id you know thatI!

!6adist&! $edipa yelled& !say it once ore& *ll wrap the TF tube around your head&!

!oure really ad&! he siled.

6he wasnt& really. 6he said& !"hat the hell didnt he ownI!

(etGger cocked an eyebrow at her. !ou tell e.!*f she was going to she got no chance& for outside& all in a shuddering deluge of thick guitar chords& the )aranoids

had broken into song. Their druer had set up precariously on the diving board& the others were invisible. (etGger

cae up behind her with soe idea of cupping his hands around her breasts& but couldnt iediately find thebecause of all the clothes. They stood at the window and heard the )aranoids singing.

6,-,/A?,

As * lie an# &atch the moon 0n the lonely sea, 'atch it tug the lonely ti#e 4i-e a comforter over me, Thestill an# faceless moon $ills the (each tonight 'ith only a ghost of #ay, All sha#o& gray, an# moon(eam&hite. An# you lie alone tonight, As alone as "/4onely girl in your lonely flat, &ell, that%s &here it%s at, So hush your lonely cry.

o& can " come to you, !ut out the moon, sen# (ac- the ti#e5

The night has gone so gray, "%# lose the &ay, an# its#ar- insi#e. No, " must lie alone, Till it comes for me/ Till it ta-es the s-y, the san#, the moon, an# the

lonely sea. An# the lonely sea . . . etc. O'A?,$5T.P

2:


11/56

!/ow then&! $edipa shivered brightly.

!'irst 8uestion&! (etGger reinded her. 'ro the TF set the 6t Bernard was barking. $edipa looked and saw

Baby *gor& disguised as a Turkish beggar lad& skulking with the dog around a set she took to be Constantinople.

!Another early reel&! she said hopefully.

!* cant allow that 8uestion&! (etGger said. $n the doorsill the )aranoids& as we leave ilk to propitiate the

leprechaun& had set a fifth of Jack ?aniels.

!$boy&! said $edipa. 6he poured a drink. !?id Baby *gor get to Constantinople in the good subarine JustineI!

!/o&! said (etGger. $edipa took off an earring. !?id he get there in& what did you call the& in an , Class subarine.!!/o&! said (etGger. $edipa took off another earring.

!?id he get there overland& aybe through Asia (inorI!

!(aybe&! said (etGger. $edipa took off another earring.

!Another earringI! said (etGger. !*f * answer that& will you take soething offI! !*ll do it without an answer&! roared

(etGger& shucking out of his coat. $edipa refilled her glass& (etGger had another snort fro the bottle. $edipa

then sat five inutes watching the tube& forgetting she was supposed to ask 8uestions. (etGger took his trousers off&

earnestly. The father seeed to be up before a court>artial& now.

!6o&! she said& !an early reel. This is where he gets cashiered& ha& ha.!

!(aybe its a flashback&! (etGger said. !$r aybe he gets it twice.! $edipa reoved a bracelet. 6o it went the

succession of fil fragents on the tube& the progressive reoval of clothing that seeed to bring her no nearer

nudity& the booGing& the tireless shivaree& of voices and guitars fro out by the pool. /ow and then a coercial wouldcoe in& each tie (etGger would say& !*nveraritys&! or !Big block of shares&! and later settled for nodding and

siling. $edipa would scowl back& growing ore and ore certain& while a headache began to flower behind her

eyes& that they aong all possible cobinations of new lovers had found a way to ake tie itself slow down.

Things grew less and less clear. At soe point she went into the bathroo& tried to find her iage in the irror

and couldnt. 6he had a oent of nearly pure terror. Then reebered that the irror had broken and fallen in sink.

!6even years bad luck&! she said aloud. !*ll be ;.! 6he shut the door behind her and took the occasion to blunder&

alost absently& into another slip and skirt& as well as a long>leg girdle and a couple pairs of knee socks. *t struck her

that if the sun ever cae up (etGger would disappear. 6he wasnt sure if she wanted hi to. 6he cae back in to

find (etGger wearing only a pair of bo7er shorts and fast asleep with a harden and his head under the couch. 6he

noticed also a fat stoach the suit had hidden. $n the screen /ew Qealanders and Turks were ipaling one another

on bayonets. "ith a cry $edipa rushed to hi& fell on hi& began kissing hi to wake hi up. +is radiant eyes flewopen& pierced her& as if she could feel the sharpness soewhere vague between her breasts. 6he sank with an

enorous sigh that carried all rigidity like a ythical fluid fro her& down ne7t to hiH so weak she couldnt help hi

undress herH it took hi

up& short>haired& poker>faced little girl with a Barbie doll. 6he ay have fallen asleep once or twice. 6he awoke at last

to find herself getting laidH shed coe in on a se7ual crescendo in progress& like a cut to a scene where the caeras

already oving. $utside a fugue of guitars had begun& and she counted each electronic voice as it cae in& till she

reached si7 or so and recalled only three of the )aranoids played guitarsH so others ust be plugging in.

"hich indeed they were. +er clia7 and (etGgers& when it cae& coincided with every light in the place&

including the TF tube& suddenly going out& dead& black. *t was a curious e7perience. The )aranoids had blown a fuse.

"hen the lights cae on again& and she and (etGger lay twined aid a wall>to>wall scatter of clothing and spilled

bourbon& the TF tube revealed the father& dog and Baby *gor trapped inside the darkening !Justine&! as the water level

ine7orably rose. The dog was first to drown& in a great crowd of bubbles. The caera cae in for a close>up of Baby *gorcrying& one hand on the control board. 6oething short>circuited then and the grounded Baby *gor was electrocuted&

thrashing back and forth and screaing horribly. Through one of those +ollywood distortions in probability& the

father was spared electrocution so he could ake a farewell speech& apologiGing to Baby *gor and the dog for getting

the into this and regretting that they wouldnt be eeting in heaven !our little eyes have seen your daddy for the

last tie. ou are for salvationH * a for the )it.! At the end his suffering eyes filled the screen& the sound of incoing

water grew deafening& up swelled that strange ;:s ovie usic with the assive sa7 section& in faded the legend T+,

,/?.

$edipa had leaped to her feet and run across to the other wall to turn and glare at (etGger. !They didnt ake itM!

she yelled. !ou bastard& * won.!

!ou won e&! (etGger siled.

22


12/56

!"hat did *nverarity tell you about e&! she asked

finally.!That you wouldnt be easy.!

6he began to cry.!Coe back&! said (etGger. !Coe on.!

After awhile she said& !* will.! And she did.

3T+*/06then did not delay in turning curious. *f one obEect behind her discovery of what she was to label the Tristero6yste or often only The Tristero #as if it ight be soethings secret title% were to bring to an end her

encapsulation in her tower& then that nights infidelity with (etGger would logically be the starting point for itHlogically. Thats what would coe to haunt her ost& perhaps the way it fitted& logically& together. As if #as shed guessedthat first inute in 6an /arciso% there were revelation in progress all around her. (uch of the revelation was tocoe through the

stap collection )ierce had left& his substitute often for herKthousands of little colored windows into deep vistas ofspace and tie savannahs teeing with elands and gaGelles& galleons sailing west into the void& +itler heads& sunsets&cedars of Lebanon& allegorical faces that never were& he could spend hours peering into each one& ignoring her. 6he hadnever seen the fascination. The thought that now it would all have to be inventoried and appraised was only anotherheadache. /o suspicion at all that it ight have soething to tell her. et if she hadnt been set up or sensitiGed& first by

her peculiar seduction& then by the other& alost offhand things& what after all could the ute staps have toldher& reaining then as they wouldve only e7>rivals& cheated as she by death& about to be broken up into lots& on routeto any nuber of new astersI

*t got seriously under way& this sensitiGing& either with the letter fro (ucho or the evening she and (etGgerdrifted into a strange bar known as The 6cope. Looking back she forgot which had coe first. The letter itself hadnothing uch to say& had coe in response to one of her dutiful& ore or less rabling& twice>a>week notes to hi&in which she was not confessing to her scene with (etGger because (ucho& she felt& soehow& would know. "ouldthen proceed at a C5' record hop to look out again across the gleaing gy floor and there in one of the giantkeyholes inscribed for basketball see& groping her vertical backstroke a little awkward opposite any boy heels ightake her an inch taller than& a 6haron& Linda or (ichele& seventeen and what is known as a hip one& whosevelveted eyes ultiately& statistically would eet (uchos and respond& and the thing would develop

2


13/56

then groovy as it could when you found you couldnt get statutory rape really out of the back of your law>abidinghead. 6he knew the pattern because it had happened a few ties already& though $edipa had been ostscrupulously fair about it& entioning the practice only once& in fact& another three in the orning and out of a darkdawn sky& asking if he wasnt worried about the penal code. !$f course&! said (ucho after awhile& that was allH but inhis tone of voice she thought she heard ore& soething between annoyance and agony. 6he wondered then ifworrying affected his perforance. +aving once been seventeen and ready to laugh at alost anything& she found

herself then overcoe by& call it a tenderness shed never go 8uite to the back of lest she get bogged. *t kept her froasking hi any ore 8uestions. Like all their inabilities to counicate& this too had a virtuous otive.

*t ay have been an intuition that the letter would be newsless inside that ade $edipa look ore closely at itsoutside& when it arrived. At first she didnt see. *t was an ordinary (uchoes8ue envelope& swiped fro the station&ordinary airail stap& to the left of the cancellation a blurb put on by the governent& -,)$-TALL$B6C,/,(A*LTo$5-)$T6(A6T,-. *dly& she began to ski back through (uchos letter after reading it to see if there were anydirty words. !(etGger&! it occurred to her& !what is a pots>asterI!

!0uy in the scullery&! replied (etGger authoritatively fro the bathroo& !in charge of all the heavy stuff&canner kettles& gunboats& ?utch ovens . . .!

6he threw a brassiere in at hi and said& *"%m

supposed to report all obscene ail to y pots>aster.!!6o they ake isprints&! (etGger said& !let the. As long as theyre careful about not pressing the wrong button&

you knowI!*t ay have been that sae evening that they happened across The 6cope& a bar out on the way to L.A.& near

the oyodyne plant. ,very now and again& like this evening& ,cho Courts becae ipossible& either because ofthe stillness of the pool and the blank windows that faced on it& or a prevalence of teenage voyeurs& whod allhad copies of (iless passkey ade so they could check in at whi on any biGarre se7ual action. This would growso bad $edipa and (etGger got in the habit of dragging a attress into the walk>in closet& where (etGger would thenove the chest of drawers up against the door& reove the botto drawer and put it on top& insert his legs in the eptyspace& this being the only way he could lie full length in this closet& by which point hed usually lost interest in the wholething.

The 6cope proved to be a haunt for electronics assebly people fro oyodyne. The green neon sign outsideingeniously depicted the face of an oscilloscope tube& over which flowed an ever>changing dance of LissaEousfigures. Today seeed to be payday& and everyone inside to be drunk already. 0lared at all the way& $edipa and(etGger found a table in back. A wiGened bartender wearing shades aterialiGed and (etGger ordered bourbon.$edipa& checking the bar& grew nervous. There was this Ee ne sais 8uoi about the 6cope crowd they all wore glassesand stared at you&

silent. ,7cept for a couple>three nearer the door& who were engaged in a nose>picking contest& seeing how far they couldflick it across the roo.

A sudden chorus of whoops and yibbles burst fro a kind of Euke bo7 at the far end of the roo. ,verybody 8uit

talking. The bartender tiptoed back& with the drinks.

!"hats happeningI! $edipa whispered.

!Thats by 6tockhausen&! the hip graybeard infored her& !the early crowd tends to dig your -adio Cologne

sound. Later on we really swing. "ere the only bar in the area& you know& has a strictly electronic usic policy. Coe

on around 6aturdays& starting idnight we have your 6inewave 6ession& thats a live get>together& fellas coe in Eust to

Ea fro all over the state& 6an Jose& 6anta Barbara& 6an ?iegoKK!

!LiveI! (etGger said& !electronic usic& liveI!

!They put it on the tape& here& live& fella. "e got a whole back roo full of your audio oscillators& gunshot achines&

contact ikes& everything an. Thats for if you didnt bring your a7& see& but you got the feeling and you want to

swing with the rest of the cats& theres always soething available.!

!/o offense&! said (etGger& with a winning Baby *gor sile.

2;


14/56

A frail young an in a drip>dry suit slid into the seat across fro the& introduced hiself as (ike

'allopian& and began proselytiGing for an organiGation known as the )eter )inguid 6ociety.

!ou one of these right>wing nut outfitsI! in8uired the diploatic (etGger.

'allopian twinkled. !They accuse us of being paranoids.!!TheyI! in8uired (etGger& twinkling also.

!5sI! asked $edipa.

The )eter )inguid 6ociety was naed for the coanding officer of the Confederate an>of>war !?isgruntled&!

who early in 2=3; had set sail with the daring plan of bringing a task force around Cape +orn to attack 6an 'ranciscoand thus open a second front in the "ar 'or 6outhern *ndependence. 6tors and scurvy anaged to destroy or

discourage every vessel in this arada e7cept the gae little !?isgruntled&! which showed up off the coast of California

about a year later. 5nknown& however& to Coodore )inguid& CGar /icholas ** of -ussia had dispatched his 'ar ,ast

'leet& four corvettes and two clippers& all under the coand of one -ear Adiral )opov& to 6an 'rancisco Bay& as part

of a ploy to keep Britain and 'rance fro #aong other things% intervening on the side of the Confederacy. )inguid could

not have chosen a worse tie for an assault on 6an 'rancisco. -uors were abroad that winter that the -eb cruisers

!Alabaa! and !6uter! were indeed on the point of attacking the city& and the -ussian adiral had& on his own

responsibility& issued his )acific s8uadron standing orders to put on stea and clear for action should any such attept

develop. The cruisers& however& seeed to prefer cruising and nothing ore. This did not keep )opov fro periodic

reconnoitring. "hat happened on the 9th (arch& 2=34& a day now held sacred by all )eter )inguid 6ociety ebers&

is not too clear. )opov did send out a ship& either the corvette !Bogatir! or the clipper !0aida>ak&! to see what it

could see. $ff the coast of either what is now Carel>by>the>6ea& or what is now )iso Beach& around noon or possiblytoward dusk& the two

ships sighted each other. $ne of the ay have fired& if it did then the other respondedH but both were out of rangeso neither showed a scar afterward to prove anything. /ight fell. *n the orning the -ussian ship was gone. Butotion is relative. *f you believe an e7cerpt fro the !Bogatir! or !0aidaak! s log& forwarded in April to the0eneral>AdEutant in 6t )etersburg and now soewhere in the rasnyi Arkhiv& it was the !?isgruntled! that hadvanished during the night.

!"ho caresI! 'allopian shrugged. !"e dont try to ake scripture out of it. /aturally thats cost us a lot of supportin the Bible Belt& where we ightve been e7pected to go over real good. The old Confederacy.

!But that was the very first ilitary confrontation between -ussia and Aerica. Attack& retaliation& both proEectilesdeep>si7ed forever and the )acific rolls on. But the ripples fro those two splashes spread& and grew& and today engulfus all.

!)eter )inguid was really our first casualty. /ot the fanatic our ore left>leaning friends over in the Birch6ociety chose to artyriGe.!

!"as the Coodore killed& thenI! asked $edipa.

(uch worse& to 'allopians ind. After the confrontation& appalled at what had to be soe ilitary alliancebetween abolitionist -ussia #/icholas having freed the serfs in 2=32% and a 5nion that paid lip>service toabolition while it kept its own industrial laborers in a kind of wage>slavery& )eter )inguid stayed in his cabin for weeks&brooding.

!But that sounds&! obEected (etGger& !like he was against industrial capitalis. "ouldnt that dis8ualify hi as any

kind of anti>Counist figureI!

!ou think like a Bircher&! 'allopian said. !0ood guys and bad guys. ou never get to any of the underlying truth. 6urehe was against industrial capitalis. 6o are we. ?idnt it lead& inevitably& to (ar7isI 5nderneath& both are part of the

sae creeping horror.! !*ndustrial anything,* haGarded (etGger.

!There you go&! nodded 'allopian.

!"hat happened to )eter )inguidI! $edipa wanted to know.

!+e finally resigned his coission. Fiolated his upbringing and code of honor. Lincoln and the CGar had forced

hi to. Thats what * eant when * said casualty. +e and ost of the crew settled near L.A.H and for the rest of his life he

did little ore than ac8uire ! wealth.!

24


15/56

!+ow poignant&! $edipa said. !"hat doingI!

!6peculating in California real estate&! said 'allopian. $edipa& halfway into swallowing part of her drink& sprayed it

out again in a glittering cone for ten feet easy& and collapsed in giggles.

!"ha&! said 'allopian. !?uring the drought that year you couldve bought lots in the heart of downtown L. A. for .

3; apiece.!

A great shout went up near the doorway& bodies flowed toward a fattish pale young an whod appeared carrying a

leather ailsack over his shoulder.

!(ail call&! people were yelling. 6ure enough& it was& Eust like in the ary. The fat kid& looking harassed& clibedup on the bar and started calling naes and throwing envelopes into the crowd. 'allopian e7cused hiself and Eoined

the others.

(etGger had taken out a pair of glasses and was s8uinting through the at the kid on the bar. !+es

wearing a oyodyne badge. "hat do you ake of thatI!

!6oe inter>office ail run&! $edipa said.!This tie of nightI!

!(aybe a late shiftI! But (etGger only frowned. !Be back&! $edipa shrugged& heading for the ladies roo.

$n the latrine wall& aong lipsticked obscenities& she noticed the following essage& neatly indited inengineering lettering

*"ntereste# in so!histicate# fun5 ou& hu((y, girl frien#s. The more the merrier. +et in touch &ith 6ir(y, through 'ASTEonly, Bo7 89:;, 4. A.* "A6T,I $edipa wondered. Beneath the notice&

faintly in pencil& was a sybol shed never seen before& aloop& triangle and trapeGoid& thus

*t ight be soething se7ual& but she soehow doubted it. 6he found a pen in her purse and copied the address andsybol in her eo book& thinking 0od& hieroglyphics. "hen she cae out 'allopian was back& and had this funny

look on his face.

!ou werent supposed to see that&! he told the. +e had an envelope. $edipa could see& instead of a postage

stap& the handstruck initials ))6.!$f course&! said (etGger. !?elivering the ail is a governent onopoly. ou would be opposed to that.!

'allopian gave the a wry sile. !*ts not as rebellious as it looks. "e use oyodynes inter>office

delivery. $n the sly. But its hard to find carriers& we have a big turnover. Theyre run on a tight schedule& and theyget nervous. 6ecurity people over at the plant know soethings up. They keep a sharp eye out. ?e "itt&! pointing atthe fat ailan& who was being hauled& twitching& down off the bar and offered drinks he did not want& !hes theost nervous one weve had all year.!

!+ow e7tensive is thisI! asked (etGger.!$nly inside our 6an /arciso chapter. Theyve set up pilot proEects siilar to this in the "ashington and * think

?allas chapters. But were the only one in California so far. A few of your ore affluent type ebers do wrap their lettersaround bricks& and then the whole thing in brown paper& and send the -ailway ,7press& but * dont know . . .!

!A little like copping out&! (etGger sypathiGed.!*ts the principle&! 'allopian agreed& sounding defensive. !To keep it up to soe kind of a reasonable volue&

each eber has to send at least one letter a week through the oyodyne syste. *f you dont& you get fined.! +eopened his letter and showed $edipa and (etGger.


16/56

had begun around 2=4. +e found it beyond siple coincidence that in of all years 2=32 the federal governent shouldhave set out on a vigorous suppression of those independent ail routes still surviving the various Acts of 4& 4& 2 and& Acts all designed to drive any private copetition into financial ruin. +e saw it all as a parable of power& itsfeeding& growth and systeatic abuse& though he didnt go into it that far with her& that particular night. All $edipawould reeber about hi at first& in fact& were his slender build and neat Arenian nose& and a certain affinity ofhis eyes for green neon.

6o began& for $edipa& the languid& sinister blooing of The Tristero. $r rather& her attendance at soe uni8ueperforance& prolonged as if it were the last of the night& soething a little e7tra for whoeverd stayed this late. As if thebreakaway gowns& net bras& Eeweled garters and 0>strings of historical figuration that would fall away were layereddense as $edipas own street>clothes in that gae with (etGger in front of the Baby *gor ovieH as if a plunge towarddawn indefinite black hours long would indeed be necessary before The Tristero could be revealed in its terriblenakedness. "ould its sile& then& be coy& and would it flirt away harlessly backstage& say good night with a Bourbon6treet bow and leave her in peaceI $r would it instead& the dance ended& coe back down the runway& its luinous starelocked to $edipas& sile gone align and pitilessH bend to her alone aong the desolate rows of seats and beginto speak words she never wanted to hearI

The beginning of that perforance was clear enough. *t was while she and (etGger were waiting for ancillaryletters to be granted representatives in AriGona& Te7as& /ew ork and 'lorida& where *nverarity had developed realestate& and in ?elaware& where hed been incorporated. The two of the& followed by a convertibleful of the

)aranoids (iles& ?ean& 6erge and Leonard and their chicks& had decided to spend the day out at 'angoso Lagoons& oneof *nveraritys last big proEects. The trip out was uneventful e7cept for two or three collisions the )aranoids alosthad owing to 6erge& the driver& not being able to see through his hair. +e was persuaded to hand over the wheel toone of the girls. 6oewhere beyond the battening& urged sweep of three>bedroo houses rushing by their thousandsacross all the dark beige hills& soehow iplicit in an arrogance or bite to the sog the ore inland sonolence of6an /arciso did lack& lurked the sea& the uniaginable )acific& the one to which all surfers& beach pads& sewagedisposal schees& tourist incursions& sunned hoose7uality& chartered fishing are irrelevant& the hole left by the oonstearing>free and onuent to her e7ileH you could not hear or even sell this but it was there& soething tidal beganto reach feelers in past eyes and eardrus& perhaps to arouse fractions of brain current your ost gossaericroelectrode is yet too gross for finding. $edipa had believed& long before leaving inneret& in soe principle of thesea as redeption for 6outhern California #not& of course& for her own section of the state& which seeed to need

none%& soe unvoiced idea that no atter what you did to its edges the true )acific stayed inviolate and integrated orassued the ugliness at any edge into soe ore general truth. )erhaps it was only that notion& its arid hope&she sensed as this forenoon they ade their seaward thrust& which would stop short of any sea.

They cae in aong earth>oving achines& a total absence of trees& the usual hieratic geoetry& and

eventually& shiying for the sand roads& down in a heli7 to a sculptured body of water naed Lake *n>verarity.

$ut in it& on a round island of fill aong blue wavelets& s8uatted the social hall& a chunky& ogived and verdigrised&

Art /ouveau reconstruction of soe ,uropean pleasure>casino. $edipa fell in love with it. The )aranoid eleent

piled out of their car& carrying usical instruents and looking around as if for outlets under the trucked>in white sand

to plug into. $edipa fro the *palas trunk took a basket filled with cold eggplant parigian sandwiches fro an

*talian drive>in& and (etGger cae up with an enorous Theros of te8uila sours. They wandered all in a loose

pattern down the beach toward a sall arina for what boat owners didnt have lots directly on the water.

!+ey& blokes&! yelled ?ean or perhaps 6erge& !lets pinch a boat.!

!+ear& hear&! cried the girls. (etGger closed his eyes and tripped over an old anchor. !"hy are you walking

around&! in8uired $edipa& !with your eyes closed& (etGgerI!

!Larceny&! (etGger said& !aybe theyll need a lawyer.! A snarl rose along with soe soke fro aong

pleasure boats strung like piglets along the pier& indicating the )aranoids had indeed started soeones outboard. !Coe

on& then&! they called. 6uddenly& a doGen boats away& a for& covered with a blue polyethylene tarp& rose up and said&

!Baby *gor& * need help.!

!* know that voice&! said (etGger.

!uick&! said the blue tarp& !let e hitch a ride with you guys.!

!+urry& hurry&! called the )aranoids.

!(anny ?i )resso&! said (etGger& seeing less than delighted.

!our actorRlawyer friend&! $edipa recalled.

23


17/56

!/ot so loud& hey&! said ?i )resso& skulking as best a polyethylene cone can along the landing towards the.

!Theyre watching. "ith binoculars.! (etGger handed $edipa aboard the about>to>be>hiEacked vessel& a ly>foot

aluinu triaran known as the !0odGilla **&! and gave ?i )resso what he intended to be a hand also& but he had

grabbed& it seeed& only epty plastic& and when he pulled& the entire covering cae away and there stood ?i )resso& in a

skin>diving suit and wraparound shades.

!* can e7plain&! he said.

!+ey&! yelled a couple voices& faintly& alost in unison& fro up the beach a ways. A s8uat an with a crew cut&

intensely tanned and also with shades& cae out in the open running& one ar doubled like a wing with the hand at chestlevel& inside the Eacket.

!Are we on caeraI! asked (etGger dryly.

!This is real&! chattered ?i )resso& !coe on.! The )aranoids cast off& backed the !0odGilla +! out fro the pier&

turned and with a concerted whoop took off like a bat out of hell& nearly sending ?i )resso over the fantail. $edipa&

looking back& could see their pursuer had been Eoined by another an about the sae build. Both wore gray suits. 6he

couldnt see if they were holding anything like guns.

!* left y car on the other side of the lake&! ?i )resso said& !but * know he has soebody watching.!!"ho does&! (etGger asked.!Anthony 0iunghierrace&! replied oinous ?i )resso& !alias Tony Jaguar.!!"hoI!

!,h& sfaci&! shrugged ?i )resso& and spat into their wake. The )aranoids were singing& to the tune of

!Adeste'ideles!

ey, soli# citizen, &e ust !inche# your (ooat,ey, soli# citizen, &e ust !inche# your (oat . . . grabassing around& trying to push each other over the side.

$edipa cringed out of the way and watched ?i )resso. *f he had really played the part of (etGger in a TF pilot fil as(etGger claied& the casting had been typically +ollywood they didnt look or act a bit alike.

!6o&! said ?i )resso& !whos Tony Jaguar. Fery big in Cosa /ostra& is who.!

!oure an actor&! said (etGger. !+ow are you in with theI!

!* a lawyer again&! ?i )resso said. !That pilot will never be bought& (etG& not unless you go out and dosoething really ?arrowlike& spectacular. Arouse public interest& aybe with a sensational defense.!

!Like what.!!Like win the litigation * bringing against the estate of )ierce *nverarity.! (etGger& as uch as cool (etGger

could& goggled. ?i )resso laughed and punched (etGger in the shoulder. !Thats right& good buddy.!!"ho wants whatI ou better talk to the other e7ecutor too.! +e introduced $edipa& ?i )resso tipping his shades

politely. The air suddenly went cold& the sun was blotted out. The three looked up in alar to see looing over theand about to collide the pale green social hall& its towering pointed windows& wrought>iron floral ebellishents& solidsilence& air soehow of waiting for the. ?ean& the )aranoid at the hel& brought the boat around neatly to asall wooden dock& everybody got out& ?i )resso heading nervously for an outside staircase. !* want to check on ycar&! he said. $edipa and (etGger& carrying picnic stuff& followed up the stairs& along a balcony& out of thebuildings shadow& up a etal ladder finally to the roof. *t was like walking on the head of a dru they could hear theirreverberations inside the hollow building beneath& and the delighted yelling of the )aranoids. ?i )resso& 6cuba suitglistening& scrabled up the side of a cupola. $edipa spread a blanket and poured booGe into cups ade of white&crushed& plastic foa. !*ts still there&! said ?i )resso& descending. !* ought to ake a run for it.!

!"hos your clientI! asked (etGger& holding out a te8uila sour.!'ellow whos chasing e&! allowed ?i )resso& holding the cup between his teeth so it covered his nose and

looking at the& arch.!ou ran fro clientsI! $edipa asked. !ouflee abulancesI!!+es been trying to borrow oney&! ?i )resso said& !since * told hi * couldnt get an advance against any

settleent in this suit.!!oure all ready to lose& then&! she said.!(y heart isnt in it&! ?i )resso aditted& !and if.* cant even keep up payents on that D, * bought while

teporarily insane& how can * lend oneyI!

!$ver ;: years&! (etGger snorted& !thats teporary.!

!* not so craGy * dont know trouble&! ?i )resso said& !and Tony J. is in it& friends. 0abling ostly& also talk

2


18/56

hes been up to show cause to the local Table why he shouldnt be in for soe discipline there. That kind of grief * do

not need.!

$edipa glared. !oure a selfish schuck.!

!All the tie Cosa /ostra is watching&! soothed (etGger& !watching. *t does not do to be seen helping those the

organiGation does not want helped.!

!* have relatives in 6icily&! said ?i )resso& in coic broken ,nglish. )aranoids and their chicks appeared against

the bright sky& fro behind turrets& gables& ventilating ducts& and oved in on the eggplant sandwiches in the basket.

(etGger sat on the Eug of booGe so they couldnt get any. The wind had risen.!Tell e about the lawsuit&! (etGger said& trying with both hands to keep his hair in place.

!ouve been into *nveraritys books&! ?i )resso said. !ou know the Beaconsfield filter thing.! (etGger ade a

noncoittal oue.

!Bone charcoal&! $edipa reebered.

!eah& well Tony Jaguar& y client& supplied soe bones&! said ?i )resso& !he alleges. *nverarity never paid hi. Thats

what its about.!

!$ffhand&! (etGger said& !it doesnt sound like *nverarity. +e was scrupulous about payents like that. 5nless it

was a bribe. * only did his legal ta7 deductions& so * wouldnt have seen it if it was. "hat construction fir did your client

work forI!

!Construction fir&! s8uinted ?i )resso.

(etGger looked around. The )aranoids and their chicks ay have been out of earshot. !+uan bones& rightI! ?i

)resso nodded yes. !All right& thats how he got the. ?ifferent highway outfits in the area& ones *nverarity hadbought into& they got the contracts. All drawn up in ost kosher fashion& (anfred. *f there was payola in there& *

doubt it got written down.!

!+ow&! in8uired $edipa& !are road builders in any position to sell bones& prayI!

!$ld ceeteries have to be ripped up&! (etGger e7plained. !Lake in the path of the ,ast 6an /arciso 'reeway&

it had no right to be there& so we Eust barrelled on through& no sweat.!

!/o bribes& no freeways&! ?i )resso shaking his head. !These bones cae fro *taly. A straight sale. 6oe of

the&! waving out at the lake& !are down there& to decorate the botto for the 6cuba nuts. Thats what *ve been doing

today& e7aining the goods in dispute. Till Tony started chasing& anyway. The rest of the bones were used in the

-? phase of the filter progra& back around the early :s& way before cancer. Tony Jaguar says he harvested the

all fro the botto of Lago di )ieta.!

!(y 0od&! (etGger said& soon as this nae registered. !0*sI!!About a copany&! said (anny ?i )resso. Lago di )ieta was near the Tyrrhenian coast& soewhere between

/aples and -oe& and had been the scene of a now ignored # in 294; tragic% battle of attrition in a inor pocket

developed during the advance on -oe. 'or weeks& a handful of Aerican troops& cut off and without

counications& huddled on the narrow shore of the clear and tran8uil lake while fro the cliffs that tilted vertiginously

over the beach 0erans hit the day and night with plunging& enfilading fire. The water of the lake was too cold toswi you died of e7posure before you could reach any safe shore. There were no trees to build rafts with. /o planescae over e7cept an occasional 6tuka with strafing in ind. *t was rearkable that so few en held out so long. They dugin as far as the rocky beach would let theH they sent sall raids up the cliffs that ostly never cae back& but didsucceed in taking out a achine>gun& once. )atrols looked for routes out& but those few that returned had foundnothing. They did what they could to break outH failing& they clung to life as long as they could. But they died& every one&dubly& without a trace or a word. $ne day the 0erans cae down fro the cliffs& and their enlisted en put all the

bodies that were on the beach into the lake& along with what weapons and other ateriel were no longer of use toeither side. )resently the bodies sankH and stayed where they were till the early :& when Tony Jaguar& whod been acorporal in an *talian outfit attached to the 0eran force at Lago di )ieta and knew about what was at the botto&decided along with soe colleagues to see what he could salvage. All they anaged to coe up with was bones.$ut of soe urky train of reasoning& which ay have included the observed fact that Aerican tourists& beginningthen to be plentiful& would pay good dollars for alost anythingH and stories about 'orest Lawn and the Aerican cultof the deadH possibly soe di hope that 6enator (cCarthy& and others of his persuasion& in those days havingachieved a certain ascendancy over the rich cretini fro across the sea& would soehow refocus attention on the fallenof "" **& especially ones whose corpses had never been foundH out of soe such labyrinth of assued otives& TonyJaguar decided he could surely unload his harvest of bones on soe Aerican soeplace& through his contacts in the

!faily&! known these days as Cosa /ostra. +e was right. An iport>e7port fir bought the bones& sold the to a

2=


19/56

fertiliGer enterprise& which ay have used one or two feurs for laboratory tests but eventually decided to phase

entirely into enhaden instead and transferred the reaining several tons to a holding copany& which stored the in a

warehouse outside of 'ort "ayne& *ndiana& for aybe a year before Bea>consfield got interested.

!Aha&! (etGger leaped. !6o it was Beaconsfield bought the. /ot *nverarity. The only shares he held were in

$steolysis& *nc.& the copany they set up to develop the filter. /ever in Beaconsfield itself.!

!ou know& blokes&! rearked one of the girls& a long>waisted& brown>haired lovely in a black knit leotard and

pointed sneakers& !this all has a ost biGarre reseblance to that ill& ill Jacobean revenge play we went to last week.!

*The Courier%s Trage#y,* said (iles& !shes right. The sae kind of kinky thing& you know. Bones of lost battalionin lake& fished up& turned into charcoalKK!

!Theyve been listening&! screaed ?i )resso& !those kids. All the tie& soebody listens in& snoopsH they bug

your apartent& they tap your phoneKK!

!But we dont repeat what we hear&! said another girl. !/one of us soke Beaconsfields anyway. "ere all on pot.!

Laughter. But no Eoke for Leonard the druer now reached into the pocket of his beach robe

and produced a fistful of ariEuana cigarettes and distributed the aong his chus. (etGger closed his eyes& turned

his head& uttering& !)ossession.!

!+elp&! said ?i )resso& looking back with a wild eye and open outh across the lake. Another runabout had

appeared and was headed toward the. Two figures in gray suits crouched behind its windshield. !(etG& * running for it.

*f he stops by here dont bully hi& hes y client.! And he disappeared down the ladder. $edipa with a sigh

collapsed on her back and stared through the wind at the epty blue sky. 6oon she heard the !0odGilla **! starting up.

!(etGger&! it occurred to her& !hes taking the boatI "ere arooned.!6o they were& until well after the sun had set and (iles& ?ean& 6erge and Leonard and their chicks& by holding up

the glowing roaches of their cigarettes like a flipcard section at a football gae to spell out alternate 6s and $s& attracted

the attention of the 'angoso Lagoons 6ecurity 'orce& a garrison against the night ade up of one>tie cowboy actors

and L. A. otorcycle cops. The tie in between had been whiled away with songs by the )aranoids& and Euicing& and

feeding pieces of eggplant sandwich to a flock of not too bright seagulls whod istaken 'angoso Langoons for the

)acific& and hearing the plot of The Courier%s Trage#y, by -ichard "harfinger& related near to unintelligible by eight

eories unlooping progressively into regions as strange to ap as their rising coils and clouds of pot soke. *t got so

confusing that ne7t day $edipa decided to go see the play itself& and even conned (etGger into taking her.

The Courier%s Trage#y was being put on by a 6an/arciso group known as the Tank )layers& the Tank being asall arena theatre located out between a traffic analysis fir and a wildcat transistor outfit that hadnt been there

last year and wouldnt be this coing but eanwhile was underselling even the Japanese and hauling in loot by thesteashovelful. $edipa and a reluctant (etGger cae in on only a partly>filled house. Attendance did not swell bythe tie the play started. But the costues were gorgeous and the lighting iaginative& and though the words were allspoken in Transplanted (iddle "estern 6tage British& $edipa found herself after five inutes sucked utterly intothe landscape of evil -ichard "harfinger had fashioned for his 2th>century audiences& so preapocalyptic& death>wishful& sensually fatigued& unprepared& a little poignantly& for that abyss of civil war that had been waiting& coldand deep& only a few years ahead of the.

Angelo& then& evil ?uke of 68uauglia& has perhaps ten years before the plays opening urdered the good ?uke

of adEoining 'aggio& by poisoning the feet on an iage of 6aint /arcissus& Bishop of Jerusale& in the court chapel&

which feet the ?uke was in the habit of kissing every 6unday at (ass. This enables the evil illegitiate son& )as8uale&

to take over as regent for his half>brother /iccold& the rightful heir and good guy of the play& till he coes of age.

)as8uale of course has no intention of letting hi live so long. Being in thick with the ?uke of 68uauglia& )as8uale

plots to do away with young /iccol3 by suggesting a gae of hide>and>seek and then finessing hi into crawlinginside of an enorous cannon& which a henchan is then to set off& hopefully blowing the child& as )as8uale recalls ruefully&

later on in the third act&

0ut in a (loo#y rain to fee# our fiel#s Ami# the Maena# roar of nitre%s song An# sulfur%s cantus firmus.

-uefully& because the henchan& a likeable scheer naed ,rcole& is secretly involved with dissident eleents in thecourt of 'aggio who want to keep /iccold alive& and so he contrives to stuff a young goat into the cannon instead&eanwhile suggling /iccol3 out of the ducal palace disguised as an elderly procuress.

This coes out in the first scene& as /iccol3 confides his history to a friend& ?oenico. /iccol3 is at this pointgrown up& hanging around the court of his fathers urderer& ?uke Angelo& and as8uerading as a special courier of theThurn and Ta7is faily& who at the tie held a postal onopoly throughout ost of the +oly -oan ,pire."hat he is trying to do& ostensibly& is develop a new arket& since the evil ?uke of 68uauglia has steadfastly refused&

29


20/56

even with the lower rates and faster service of the Thurn and Ta7is syste& to eploy any but his own essengersin counicating with his stooge )as8uale over in neighboring 'aggio. The real reason /iccold is waiting around isof course to get a crack at the ?uke.

,vil ?uke Angelo& eanwhile& is scheing to aalgaate the duchies of 68uauglia and 'aggio& by arryingoff the only royal feale available& his sister 'rancesca& to )as8uale the 'aggian usurper. The only obstacle in the wayof this union is that 'rancesca is )as8uales otherKher illicit liaison with the good e7>?uke of 'aggio being onereason Angelo had hi poisoned to begin with. There is an ausing scene where 'rancesca delicately seeks to

reind her brother of the social taboos against incest. They see to have slipped her ind& replies Angelo& during theten years he and 'rancesca have been having their affair. *ncest or no& the arriage ust beH it is vital to his long>rangepolitical plans. The Church will never sanction it& says 'rancesca. 6o& says ?uke Angelo& * will bribe a cardinal. +e hasbegun feeling his sister u

Documents

Thomas Pynchon-The Crying Lot of 49