VLVL Father of the year

[Terrance]

> >>
> >> At first it had seemed like a terrific idea, a perfect break
> >> for them both, at a critical time. Sasha had been there too, to
> >> see her off on the flight, she and Zoyd handing the half-asleep
> >> Prairie back and forth, arms to arms, like a rehearsal of
> >> arrangements to come. (56.22-25)
> >>
> >> This description of how Prairie gets handed back and forth between Zoyd and
> >> Sasha at the airport relates pretty explicitly to Zoyd's sudden change of
> >> heart and his decision to dump Prairie on Sasha and chase after Frenesi on
> >> that dodgy red-eye flight to Honolulu. And there is an implication in that
> >> last clause that this was a common occurrence as Prairie was growing up.
> > Slothrop ...
> 
> Yes. I'm wondering whether this particular episode, where Zoyd suddenly
> dumps Prairie on Sasha and hops on that plane to "once again come messing
> with her privacy", which is how Frenesi sees it (36.11), happens before or
> after Frenesi deserts her mom and Prairie for good and goes back with Brock
> (292-3). And where the bogus dope raid and subsequent deal that Brock sets
> up with Zoyd so that he will get those regular welfare payments which will
> help him look after the kid actually fit in?
> 
> If the Honolulu episode happens before this sequence of events, which seems
> to be the case, then it's pretty clear that Frenesi had already decided to
> leave Zoyd - the family had split up - *before* she hooks up with Brock for
> the second time (292-3). And, if so, it seems pretty likely that Frenesi has
> had a hand in what happens to Zoyd with the marijuana obelisk and the
> welfare deal. I think it might pay to keep a close eye on the order in which
> these events actually occur.

Yes, the Hawaii episode takes place prior to these other events. Zoyd's
first meeting with BV takes place in the jail cell after he has been
busted by Hector and Sasha has been called in to take Prairie. Zoyd goes
to Hawaii looking for BV. On page 58 he is in con-man mode as he tries
to hustle Sasha into telling him something about BV: 

"OK, then, how about BV, who we both know for what he is, exactly the
kind of criminal fascist you've been taking honest shots at all your
life--are you gonna be loyal to somebody like that? All's I'm askin',
"dropping into gentler, con-man tones, "is didn't you ever meet him? See
him face-to-face?" 

Zoyd and Frenesi are still married, the divorce and the "Letter of
Agreement" (a legal contract) come on the day he meets RC & Moonpie in
the bar. 

The Letter of Agreement doesn't say anything about Jumping through
windows for a Television crew. Again, that Babies Of Wackiness Chapter
Commentary is in error.