VLVL2 (1): Chapter 1 Summary (b)

[Tim Strzechowski]

continuing . . .

 
Zoyd gets a phone call from his partner, Van Meter, who wants to know why Zoyd is not at the Cucumber Lounge to do his annual window jump.  Apparently Zoyd changed locales, but the media went to the Cuke any way, where "six mobile TV units [are] waiting, network up from the City, plus paramedics and a snack truck, all wondering where you are" (8.23-5).  Zoyd then packs up his dainty little chain saw and heads to the Cuke.

We learn that Van Meter lives in a commune, which Zoyd thought would resemble television shows he had seen about Tokyo, where everyone lives crowded into a small space but remains civil to each other; Meter's commune however is given to bickering, "raised to the level of ceremony" (9.35) and which has their own newsletter, the BlindSide Gazette.  When Zoyd inquires why everyone is here and not at the Log Jam, Van Meter tells him that an old friend of Zoyd's is here.  The news fills Zoyd with dread, and he finds out that this old friend is none other than "Zoyd's longtime pursuer, DEA field agent Hector Zuniga" (10,16-7).  Seems Hector is the bearer of bad karma to Zoyd's existence.  Prolly not a good sign.

Next we are introduced to one Ralph Wayvone, Jr., son of mobster RW, Sr. Ralph Jr.'s in a bit of a tizzy, because the band hired for his sister's wedding has just backed out, leaving Ralph Jr., in his capacity of "social coordinator" (10.34), to find a replacement.  Zoyd tells him that he might
know of a band that can fill in, after which Ralph Jr. shows him the window he'll be jumping out of today.  He then comes face to face with Hector, who invites Zoyd to lunch tomorrow; Zoyd turns him down at first, but then relents and agrees to meet Hector at the Vineland Lanes.

Zoyd goes through the window, immediately sensing something ain't right; Hector, trying to prove he's still bad, picks up a shard of glass and proceeds to eat it.  Zoyd remembers reading in the _TV Guide_ "about stunt windows made out of clear sheet candy " (12.16), and it turns out that Ralph Jr. had the real glass window replaced with the candy window.  Hector splits, leaving Zoyd to contemplate the reason for this meeting tomorrow with the DEA agent, who had spent years trying to get Zoyd to turn into a narc, and which so far, Zoyd has resisted.  He knows that one day, "just to have some peace, he'd say forget it and go over" (12.35).  Chapter ends with Zoyd comparing this situation to Wheel of Fortune, only without "Vanna White at the corner of his vision to cheer on the Wheel, to wish him well, to flip over the letters of a message he knew he didn't want to read anyway" (13.2-4).

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9809&msg=30935&sort=date


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