p 489-538

this section in 7 parts

p 489-491

YDAU [2009] May 1
place near Tucson
narrated in third person

synopsis:

Steeply asks Marathe if he's ever been tempted to view the Entertainment. Marathe muses on the fact that his father's death was caused by a videophonic pulse [from a call that Marathe had answered] which had stopped his father's pacemaker. Steeply reveals that the US has a team working on it, searching for possible non-lethal viewing possibilities. He says that one theory is that it's some kind of advanced holography. Marathe retorts that his people find theories of content irrelevant.

p 491-503

BS 1963 Winter
place Sepulveda, CA
narrated in first person by James Incandenza

synopsis:

James relates a story from his youth [revealed in a footnote to be a part of a memoir explaining how he became interested in annulation]. His father has just come home from shooting a TV commercial and is still dressed in all white with wig and makeup. After making himself a 'tomato juice beverage' he begins inspecting his bed to determine where the squeak is happening. He tells Jim he is fed up with the 'miserable cock-sucking bed your mother felt like she needed to hang onto' and what they need to do is take the mattress off and expose the frame. Jim suggests that it may be the mattress, but his father insists that the frame is old. On TV is father plays the 'Man from Glad' who's a faux-superhero who shows up and saves the day by pointing out the proper storage bag for the situation. Much struggling and cussing ensues as Jim helps his father remove the mattress and then the box spring and leaning them up in the hallway. Exposing the bed frame reveals a great deal of dust, and his father complains, asking when the last time his mother had cleaned in there. Jim points out that his bed squeaks too, but that it doesn't bother him. His father says that he's well aware of this, and can hear every squeak. His father asks his mother to go get the vacuum, as he balances on the bed frame testing for the squeak. He is seized by a coughing fit and is then 'taken ill' which is not uncommon when he's 'relaxing' after work. He pitches forward and passes out face down in the dust breaking the bed frame in the process. Jim's mother arrives with the vacuum and he squeezes past the mattress in the hallway, and runs to his room, jumping onto his own bed trying to make it squeak. In the course of doing this he knocks over a lamp, which in turn knocks the brass knob off of his closet door. The bolt that holds the knob in place fell to the floor and begins to turn circles within circle's reminding him of "L'Hopital's solution to Bernoulli's famous Brachistochrone Problem' which seems to him what it would be like for 'someone to try to turn somersaults with one hand nailed to the floor.' and this was how he first became interested 'the possibilities of annulation.'


p 503-507

YDAU [2009] Nov 9
place Ennet House & environs
narrated in third person

synopsis:

EH staffer Johnette Foltz accompanies Ken Erdedy and Kate Gompert to an NA meeting for beginners where the focus is marijuana. Everyone shares the ravages of pot-- 'slowly but thoroughly was the consensus' and then the horrors of withdrawal. Erededy is surprised that no one comes out and uses clinical terms for depression. After the meeting everyone says an 'Our Father' and then begins hugging each other. Erdedy recoils to the back of the room to avoid being hugged, but is approached anyway by Roy Tony, a 'tall heavy African-American fellow with a gold incisor' who opens his arms for a hug. Erdedy says that he doesn't like to hug, which causes Roy Tony to burst into a tirade. 'You think I fucking like to go around hug on folks' etc. He points out that they had surrendered their wills in the group,and says that Erdedy better hug him or he'll rip off his head. Erdedy gives him a vigorous hug.

p 507-508

YDAU [2009] May 1
place near Tucson
narrated in third person

synopsis:

Steeply says that they've lost a couple of people during the testing of the Entertainment. An intern got a clearance card and began to view it, and his supervisor tried to pull him out, and now he's on a feeding tube. Steeply again asks if Marathe ever considers what it'd be like. Marathe says he's tempted in a different way-- by the efficacy of the Entertainment. Steeply says he's as much terrified as he is intrigued. Marathe says he never feels this temptation, but respects its power, thus does not 'fool crazily about.'


p 508-527

YDAU [2009] Nov 10
place ETA
narrated in third person

synopsis:

Hal is in the waiting room outside the Headmaster's office with Pemulis, Axford and Ann Kittenplan. The majority of the objects in this room are blue. The receptionist is known as Lateral Alice Moore, because she had been a traffic reporter and survived a helicopter crash, which left her with a neurological condition that restricted her movement to lateral. The four have them have presumably been summoned here in conjunction with the Eschaton fiasco. There are two offices Mrs. Incandenza's and Charles Tavis' and hers has no door. She is in her office with all of the younger girls, performing a 'diddle check' which is essentially a thorough questioning to make sure that none of them are being abused, which became mandatory after an incident with Coach Bill ['Touchy'] Phiely in California. Ordinarily Dr. Rusk does the diddle check, so Hal surmises that she must be in the office with Tavis assisting with what's going to go down. Pemulis is worried that he's going to get the lion's share of the blame, and perhaps be denied the trip to the WhataBurger. Pemulis absolutely detests Rusk, for reasons Hal has never been clear on. Fortunately for Pemulis, Hal never gave him up for wiring Rusk's doorknob and electrocuting a cleaning lady. Pemulis sidles over to Lateral Alice Moore's desk and is trying to find out whether his name is in the stack of WhataBurger invitations. Hal feels at his swollen gum where his tooth had been removed. Avril is questioning the uncomprehending girls about being touched inappropriately. Kittenplan proffers that the other 3 are 'in for some serious Pukers' referring to the Tap & Whack drills. Pemulis tries to rebut saying that Eschaton was firmly entrenched before any of them came along. Hal wonders why it's taken 48 hours for the summons. Hal is often surrounded by his family but spends little time thinking of them as such, except for Mario. Tavis, like Himself, was an indecisive mix of athletics and hard science. He had become a civil engineer and had built stadia, until an embarrassing incident where the stadium he built in Toronto turned out to afford it's spectators a view of people having sex in the hotel adjacent. When a bored cameraman began broadcasting the images on the instant replay board, most of the heat fell upon Tavis. Hal thinks his uncle is very shy and tries to hide it by being open and expansive to the point of being unsettling. As Headmaster he is both ineffectual and fearsome. The only other time Hal had been summoned to the Headmaster's office this year, was in August when he had been asked to take temporary charge of a new 9 year old student, who had been evacuated too late from Ticonderoga NNY, leaving him legally blind, but still a solid player in spite of the oversized head, and the need to drag around an oxygen tank. Hal was waiting in the same place then for Tavis, who was finishing an entrance interview with 'tiny little Tina Echt' who had been as much as thrown out of the car instead of dropped off. Tavis is physically small in the way of 'something that's farther from you than it wants to be plus it's receding.' Hal feels an 'involuntary rush of affection' for his uncle with his comb-over hair, his unsymmetrical mustache and his eyes that are set at different angles. The narrative flashes back to Nov 10, briefly, and then back to the interview with Tina. Tavis tells her that they will take her apart as a little girl and put her back together as a tennis player, that they will 'take apart your skull and very gently reconstruct a skull for you.' As Hal listens Ortho Stice comes and goes, and then the Moms enters, establishing herself in "the exact center" of the room as always. She asks about his ankle, which he says is tender. She lights a cigarette and holds it with smoking arm up and elbow resting in the crook of the other arm, as always. Tavis is apologizing for making Tina cry. The Moms notes that Hal must be hungry and produces an apple, which she insists that she doesn't want and he should take. Orin and Hal call this the 'politeness roulette' wherein you feel bad for telling her any problem, because of the consequences for her. They discuss Tina Echt, and Hal laments how ten years at ETA will leave her burned out like coal at the bottom of a grill or ready for the Show. The Moms asks what the term for coal reduced to residue, and Hal quotes the OED derivation of 'clinkers' but reminds her that a grill wouldn't have clinkers, because charcoal is refined to burn to ash. She offers to have him for dinner, and then to give him the key to the kitchen, both of which he declines saying that he and Stice and perhaps Pemulis are going to 'blast down the hill and grab something.' The narrative shifts back to Nov 10, and Hal at the dentist just before being summoned, having his tooth pulled. The quartet wait on Tavis, and things are tense. Tavis when he loses his composure is like a cornered rat; when he suddenly gets very silent it's a danger sign. Because then he seems to grow, to rush at you. Lateral Alice Moore gets buzzed to bring them in, and Axford 'needs three tries' to open the door while ann Kittenplan is regally calm. Inside the office is Clenette, the custodial temp and her cart has a crazy wheel. Dr. Rusk is also inside with Otis P. Lord, with the computer monitor still over his head, with glass shards keeping him from moving his head. The room's final occupant is revealed to be an ONANTA urine expert, presumably there for a surprise test.


p 528-530

YDAU [2009] May 1
place near Tucson
narrated in third person

synopsis:

Steeply insists that it's not just a USA thing, citing 'multicultural Oriental myths' of a woman covered with fine blond hair with whom men would be drawn
to have sex and then be paralyzed or killed outright. As dawn approaches, Marathe thinks of boys with legs and bicycles. Both Steeply's and Marathe's superiors know of the meetings and look forward to them. This is their sixth or seventh meeting. According to Steeply, the BSS doesn't know that Fortier knows about Steeply knowing that Fortier knows Marathe is here. Fortier doesn't know however that Marathe now puts his wife before his cause.If he did know this, Marathe would surely have a railroad spike through his eye by now. Steeply continues, citing the myth of Odalisk, who is so beautiful that she turns those who gaze upon her to an opal, like the Greek 'Medusa in reverse.' Marathe explains that the Greeks did not fear beauty, they feared ugliness. Steeply smoked a cigarette in the same fashion as Avril, cradling his smoking arm's elbow with the other arm. Marathe invites Steeply to sit down for a moment, gesturing at his uncomfortable shoes, and then announces that he must soon leave. Steeply says the possibility of things crawling up the skirt makes him sensitive about 'plopping down.'


p 531-538
YDAU [2009] Nov 11 4:50am
Ennet House
no narration

synopsis:

This section is a dialog between Gately and Joelle in the front office of Ennet House. Gately is explaining an incident in bar where one of his friends makes the moves on another guy's girl and then humiliates the guy in front of her. The humiliated guy comes back with a gun and shoots Gately's friend in the head. Gately and his friends try to keep the victim on his feet, until the ambulance came, but to no avail. Joelle interjects a story of seeing someone cut off his hand with a chainsaw, and watching her Daddy use his belt to save him. Gately asks Joelle about the veil. She tells him about the Union of the Hideously and Improbably Deformed [UHID]. He asks why she's in it, though. She answers by describing the ceremony where the members first don the veil. Gately expresses his incomprehension and inability to see the UHID concept through the lens of AA, viz why would someone want the veil when they've finally found a support group wherein they can 'step out of the cage and quit hiding.' Joelle explains that the urge to hide is accompanied by shame about that urge. People stare but try to conceal the stare because they're ashamed to stare. So without the veil, you hide your need to hide by appearing as if you don't care how you appear to others. Gately notes that her voice changes when on this topic and asks her to use few words. The first step of UHID is acceptance of the powerlessness over the need to hide-- donning the veil. When Gately grasps what she's said, she notes that he didn't need fewer words after all, and that although he worries that he's 'not bright,' he is 'not not bright.' She uses this to point up a difference between AA and UHID which would say that it's fine to feel shame of being not bright, but if you begin to feel ashamed of that shame it becomes an insidious cycle. Gately says this makes his head hurt. He reveals that he got kicked off his football team for flunking English. She reacts with interest asking him what position he played, and telling of her baton twirling. He asks again what she's hiding under the veil, and again she ducks the question. He says the Staff part of him wants to say, if you don't want to answer just say so. She answers that he's more bugged by the possibility that she's treating him as unbright, than about her inability to refuse to answer his question. She says that she's already been upfront about her stuff, but it's his shame about his perceived unbrightness that's getting 'buried under this dead horse' of her deformity. He understands nothing and asks if her skin is deformed, even though everywhere else it looks--. She says he was about to say perfect. She says finally that she's perfect, ''Once they've seen me they can't think of anything else and don't want to look at anything else and stop carrying out normal responsibilities.' He takes this as sarcasm. She says 'I am so beautiful I am deformed.' He calls for six extra-strong aspirin. She asks again what position he played.


notes

The question of whether Joelle is actually deformed under the veil seems to be answered once and for all here, by her. Or is it? The idea of a beauty so sublime that it harms its beholder is clearly one of the primary themes that unifies the converging story lines. Another theme is simply the head which is hit upon many times in this section, so to speak. From Mario on down, there are a myriad of characters with large, unusual and often deformed heads, and heads are almost always the point of impact of violence, self inflicted or otherwise. Heads are where the game of tennis purportedly takes place, and hence are the object of much of the ETA-training regimen. Tavis' head is clearly reminiscent of Mario's, suggesting again the incest possibility. Then there's Himself who put his own head in a microwave oven. Also of note is the near comical [in spite of what they often portend] recurrence of squeaks in a good majority of scenes.