MDMD(5)---Chap 14 Plot Summary

[Eric Alan Weinstein]

MDMD (5) Plot Summary

Chapter 14---Circumnavigating the Penetralia of Our Ownmost Seraglio

A sister chapter in many respects to chapter 13, as I shall indicate in my
Commentary.
Mason begins a poetical astronomical letter to Dixon which he does not send.
Uncle Ives, Grandpa Simpson-like, seems to wake up just as Pitt and Pliny
protest
that Rev Cherrycoke couldn’t have seen the document (though perhaps our 
narrator’s Narrator has), and pro-offers un-requested moneys to the witty 
bitchy Brats. [p146] 

     Dixon returns to Cape Town, where in his absence, tales of him, and 
Mason especial, have spread amongst the townsfolk--fodder for erotic 
gossip. Corn Vrom, as always feeling cuckolded, goes after Dixon, a la
a Road Runner cartoon, with a big gun. But Corn, enamoured as he may be
of tales of macho Botha bros., is really not very tough. The moral fibre
sustaining his outraged position is not built on strong personal
foundations. Jere talks him down, he and Corn make up. [p148]
Off they go, drinking Soupkie at the World’s End and whoreing at the 
DEIC brothel, [p149] where Corn is a member who doesn’t always pay 
his dues. Good thing for the deep pockets of the R.S.---I guess you could be
more
liberal with what you claimed on your expense account in dem dar days.

 We travel through labyrinthine rooms of Perversion, encountering Slaves
of varying sizes, degrees and servitudes, and Dutchmen imaginatively indulging
their fantasies of flesh, power, desire and fear. Each visible to the other 
thro’ hidden pornoscopes. There is a rich heady air of hemp, tobacco, and opium
which would not at all comply with New York City’s smoke-free public spaces
regulations. [p151] There are also two-way mirrors in the mad-mens quarters,
offering more in the way of  porn, as girls are thrown to them as to the Lions
or perhaps as to a gym class at an all-boys public school. [p152] 

     Our Jere runs into Agent Bonk, who like certain members of the LAPD
now residing in white-only towns in Montana, has left the force to become a 
farmer. Those who travel thousands of miles to escape Sibilization know it is
an ongoing process, and spend all their lives moving towards the edge of the
known and Governed. What he needs, of course, is to be able to ride his
horse and fire weapons at  animals and Bushmen at the same time. Discussion 
ensues about which Big Gun is the best for the purpose. [p154]. 

    Jere helps get Corn back to the Vroom home, where we enter the dream-
minds of the Gothical Romantic Daughters of the End of the World, and discover
that they have a close, familial relationship with their Clock. "My, what big 
strong hands you’ve got, brother Clock" is not a line from the book, however
[p155]
Greet tries it on with Dixon. She has interesting undergarments, perhaps bought 
from Agent Provocateur in Soho’s Brewer Street? Only £100 if you say Slothrop
sent you. [p156]. 

     Down at Butter-Bag Castle, Agents non-Provocateur are having less 
personal relations with clocks. They want minute-specific time keeping
for their Company minutes. Some of those minutes are on Mr. Dixon, 
who we are led to believe has once let a Jesuit named Le Maire 
buy him a fizzy lemonade. Makes you almost want to head out for open 
country, doesn’t it? [p157]

     
Eric Alan Weinstein
University of London
E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk