Bush Vet Translation

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy

Terrence:

> I still can't imagine **anyone** reading this as implying that RC is
> a
> Vietnam Veteran.

Let it go, T. No one but you "can imagine" that 'bush vet' in this
context implies anything *other* than that RC is a Vietnam veteran. Or
that the word 'can' in this context means anything more than a stinking
toilet in a bar. You are blowing so much smoke that you can't see
anymore for squinting.

This isn't deliberate ambiguity in a text; it is a reader or two
letting their cleverness lead them to make dumb arguments.

RC is a Vietnam veteran who saw action in the jungle somewhere in
southeast asia, and who went off for a casual pee and came back to find
a drunk and depressing middle age freak making the eye at his girl, and
there's an end to it. The point of view is that of Zoyd Wheeler, an
American of and in a given time and place, filtered through the
Narrator. RC and Moonpie were favorite sweets (and thought a perfect
combination) of the working class in a time and a place; P's "act of
Naming" isn't terribly mysterious here, either --- he is deftly tagging
them with a class affiliation and a history that has little to do with
your idle notions.

Ciao.
Mark

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