VLVL 3 Zoyd and Hector

[Terrance]

> I don't buy this idea that Hector "has changed over the years", or that
> that's the intent of the portrayal. He's gotten older, more rebellious, put
> on a few pounds, watched too much tv, found God, sure, but he's always
> played it straight-up with Zoyd as far as I can see. He's no more able to
> prevent that marijuana obelisk set-up than Zoyd is, and it was probably far
> better for Zoyd and Prairie that he was the one forced to make the arrest
> than some other less sympathetic and potentially more heavy-handed cop.

Hector has changed. He's gotten a promotion. A new Job. And, like most
everyone else, he's looking to jump on the Reagan revolution band wagon
and make some real money. If Hector had another business plan he
wouldn't need Zoyd. But he needs Zoyd. And he knows how to get Zoyd to
work for him. 

Hector keeps showing up with "demented plans" and Zoyd keeps he's
technical virginity. 


We meet Hector when he just shows up, pooping in on Zoyd, again. 
When Zoyd is told that his "old buddy" has "just showed up" he goes
"sweaty" and has "one of those gotta-shit-throbs of fear." [10]

Why? 

Why should Hector make Zoyd so nervous? 

And, how does Zoyd know it's Hector? 

"Was it ESP, was it he only reacting to something in his friend's (Van
Meter's) voice? [10]

We're not told. 

However, the episode reads like an old saw: Zoyd is getting ready to go
on stage (on set, on live) when,  who should show up,  but "this visitor
from the olden days." 

This visitor is described as a "federal comet who brought, each visit in
Zoyd's orbit, new forms of bad luck and baleful influence." 

So,  Zoyd has good reason to be sweating and throbbing.  

To add gotta-shit-throb to sweatiness it's been a while since Hector's
comet has been in Zoyd's orbit and Zoyd was has been thinking that maybe
Hector found some new meat to chew on and might even be gone forever. 

Once again, Zoyd's thinking ain't nothin but wishful. Dream on. 

Ralph Jr. re-introduces the boys. Hector, RJ says, is there to wish him
luck. Good Luck or Bad luck? [11] We're not told. 

Hector had been pretending to play the Zaxxon machine so P hits the
comet/orbit note and he has been standing by the toilet so he also hits
the goota-shit-throb note too. 

So, Hector wants to do lunch with Zoyd. Zoyd doesn't want to pay.
Hector, being that he's the pursuer and the Man in this Romance and a no
free lunch Reagan Man to boot, will pay. 

Why does Zoyd agree to do lunch with Hector? 

Does he really need the meal? 

Does he like Hector? 

If so, why does he go all sweaty when he hears that Hector is back in
his orbit? 

Kinda like an old lover showing up? 

Is Zoyd a bit Curious? 

Why is Hector Bad? 

Why is Zoyd attracted to Hector's bad? 

Hector says he will prove that he's as bad of desperado as he ever was.
[p.11] 

Zoyd jumps. 

Hector takes up a piece of the broken sugar window and says, "time for
the bad." 

He takes a bite. 

How does Hector know the glass is made of sugar? 

Who else knows? 

Does everyone know but Zoyd? 

Is that why everyone at the Cuke is unusually nervous today (Ralph Jr.
has the wedding gig on his mind too)? 

Are they nervous about the glass? The Jump? What? 

Later we learn that Prairie's boy friend admires Zoyd for his death
defying jumps. We can't be sure that this is the case since Prairie and
I-24 are selling Zoyd on a business plan. Big problem in this novel,
business and honesty. 

Anyway, what other reason could there be for replacing the dangerous
glass with stunt glass but to keep Zoyd from getting hurt of killed?
RJr. replaced the glass. Was he afraid he might get sued. Is he in
business with TV people? This act has gotten bigger than Zoyd. 

page 12 

"Euchred again, Hector, thanks."

Zoyd thanks Hector. 

Hector is driven off in a large gray sedan with government plates and
one-way auto glass. No more motor-pool Plymouth for him. 

> 
> Hector sincerely believes that drugs are a blight on society, and that's
> where he has always come from in doing his job as a DEA agent. Agree or
> disagree with that opinion as you might, the text itself doesn't condemn him
> for holding these beliefs at all. 


That's true. The text doesn't condemn Hector or Zoyd. Why would it? To
read the novel as a condemnation of all "fat pigs"  cops or government
employees or whatever would, as you've pointed out, make the novel
pretty stupid and humorless. 

That being said, the text is  very critical of the fascist tactics that
Hector uses and the government's anti-drug war. And lots of other stuff
that Hector buys into (family ideology and so on).