VLVL2 (14) Enjoy it while you can, 314

[Paul Nightingale]

Leaving Mucho, Zoyd and Prairie head for the Greyhound station to await
a bus.

The "pinball machine with a psychedelic motif, called Hip Trip" seems to
continue the entertainment-as-distraction theme. The drug culture might
be, to put it mildly, frowned upon; but that doesn't mean it can't be
repackaged for 'legitimate' profit. Prairie is "a great fan of the
game", although probably not yet addicted.

Cf: "Things blinked, swirled, transformed, came and went everywhere.
Distraction. Pinball machines, television sets," etc ... down to: "Views
... were psychedelic even if you happened to be on the natch ..." (308).

And, going all the way back: the TV transformation of Zoyd's window-jump
into something other than what he remembers (15).

Note the abrupt transition from the sombre tone of the previous
paragraph (in particular, from "lampless wastes" and "unseen paybacks").
However, Zoyd does warn "his innocent child" that such pleasures won't
last.

Is he actually grumpy here? Does this count as some kind of child abuse?